PAHO Director Cites Importance of Food Safety at Commission meeting

Washington, DC, February 26, 2002, (PAHO) - Food safety is an increasingly important issue in the Americas with potential for negative impact on economic development and tourism if not handled properly, PAHO Director Dr. George Alleyne said today at a meeting of the new Pan American Commission for Food Safety.

"Our great hope is that this commission will lead to wide cooperation between the health and agriculture sectors, between producers and consumers of food, all for the benefit of health and well-being of the people of our Member Countries," Dr. Alleyne added.

The commission, which is holding its 2^nd meeting at the Pan American Health Organization, includes representatives of the health and agriculture sectors from throughout the Americas and aims to help define regional policies and programs designed to improve food safety in the countries of the Americas.

"Cholera is one example of food as a vector of disease that had a very negative impact," said Dr. Alleyne. "The growth of agribusiness is a major engine of economic development and food safety is continuing to assume a greater importance in the economies of our countries," he said. In the United States alone, food-borne illness is responsible for 325,000 hospitalizations and 5,200 deaths a year.

COPAIA was created from a proposal presented by Dr. Joao Carlos de Souza Meirelles, Secretary of Agriculture and Food Supply of the State of Sao Paulo (Brazil), and approved by Ministries of Health and Agriculture at the Inter-American Meeting at the Ministerial Level on Health and Agriculture (RIMSA XII).

At its opening session today, members elected Dr. Fernando Gracia García, Minister of Health of Panama, as president. Jorge Escoto Marroquín, minister of agriculture of Guatemala, was elected first vice-president; Dr. Frank Rivas Von Eichwald, director of the Venezuela Industrial Meat Producers Association 2^nd vice-president, and Dr. Marcelo Azalim, associate director of Brazil's National Sanitary Surveillance Agency, rapporteur.

The commission's purpose is to contribute to improvements in the safety of food throughout the alimentary chain by promoting good food safety programs in the Americas, including coordination and integration with producers and consumers. Its members include representatives of Ministries of Health, Ministries of Agriculture, food producers and processors and consumers from throughout the Americas.

PAHO, which was founded in 1902, works to improve health and raise living standards in all the countries of the Americas. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization.