GO Blog

Today we meet with officials from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Katinka de Balogh, a Senior Officer in Veterinary Public Health guided us through a day of meetings and presentations with FAO officials and scientists as follows:

Ezzeddine Boutrif, Director of Nutrition and Consumer Protection and Samuel Jutzi, Director of Animal Production and Health Division provided the opening remarks.

Selma Doyran, a senior officer, Food Standards and Secretariat for Codex Alimentarius Commission, Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division made a presentation on Codex Alimentarius and showed a short promotional video.

Lordes Costarrica, Senior Officer in Food Safety, Food Quality and Standards Services made a presentation on scientific advice for standards setting.

Maya Piñiero, Food Quality and Safety Officer in Food Safety, Food Quality and Standards Services Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division made a presentation on Biosecurity

Reneta Clark, A nutrition officer in Quality and Standards Services Nutrition and Consumer Protection Division made a presentation on food safety policy

Scott Newman, International Wildlife Coordinator with Animal Health Service in the Animal Production and Health Division spoke about wild birds and HPAI

Jan Slingenbergh, Senior Officer in Animal Health Service in Animal Production and Health Division spoke about customizing animal health policies to the poultry intensification process with Avian Influenza as an example

Gary Brickler, Planning Coordinator, Crisis Management Center gave a tour and answered questions about the FAO Crisis Management Center

Juan Lubroth, Senior Officer and Head of EMPRES in Animal Health Services, Animal Production and Health Division made a presentation about the Emergency Prevention System (EMPRES) for transboundry animal and plant pest and diseases and the global livestock early warning system

Anni McLeod, Senior Officer, Livestock Policy, Livestock Information, Sector Analysis and Policy Branch of Animal Production and Health Division talked about the animal health policy program in the Animal Health Production and Health Division.

The FAO is located in the Caracalla district of Rome which named for it’s proximity to the Baths of Caracalla originally constructed in 212 A.D.

At the close of the day, the group gathered for a farewell dinner at Lo Scopettaro, a little restaurant located a few blocks from our hotel. We had a three-hour feast of rustic Roman cuisine. There was much toasting and lively conversation thanks to Will, who encouraged participants to shift seats between courses. Musicians entertained us with guitar, tambourine, accordion music and classic Dean Martin tunes such as That’s Amore and Volare.

Most of the group departs on Saturday; some are taking a few extra days for sight seeing or tagging on other meetings.