The Saudi Food & Drug Authority (SFDA) hosts the eleventh meeting of the Codex Coordinating Committee for the Near East (CCNE) on 18–22 September 2023, at FAO headquarters in Rome.

During the meeting, SFDA will review the leading experience of Saudi Arabia with the Healthy Food Strategy (HFS) as a key topic aiming to discuss the opportunities for strengthening the role of regional countries in the transformation towards healthy and sustainable food systems.

In partnership with WHO, SFDA will showcase its advanced experience in setting the national programs through a workshop on enhancing the participation of regional countries at the level of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex).    

The meeting will discuss the alignment of regional food standards to promote market access for products, and support the intra-regional trade of food products.
It is worth mentioning that Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that provide food safety-related data into the WHO Global Environment Monitoring System/Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment Programme (GEMS/Food Platform), which reflects on the Codex standards. In 2020, Saudi Arabia was appointed as the Regional Coordinator for the Near East Countries in Codex due to its continuous contributions in setting the policies and procedures associated with promoting the general principles of food safety.