Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Bridgette Keefe

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2005 - The Office of the Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services today announced a public meeting to provide information and receive comments on new work and priorities for the Codex ad hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology. The Task Force was established at the 27th Session of the Codex Committee that met in Geneva on June 28 - July 3, 2004.

The public meeting will be held from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in Room 107-A of the Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building, 12th Street and Jefferson Drive, SW., Washington, DC. The task force will meet in the fall of 2005. The meeting agenda and logistical information will be available at a later date.

The Codex ad hoc International Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology will develop standards, guidelines and recommendations for foods derived from modern biotechnology. These are based on scientific evidence and risk analysis relevant to the health of consumers and the promotion of fair practices in the food trade.

Codex was created in 1962 by two United Nations organizations: the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Codex develops food standards, guidelines and codes of practice in order to protect the health of consumers, ensure fair trade practices in the food trade and promote coordination of food standards undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

For more information about the public meeting, contact Paulo Almeida, U.S. Codex Office, FSIS, at (202) 690-4042 or by fax at (202) 720-3157.