ILSI INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS COMMITTEE

Mission

The mission of the ILSI International Organizations Committee (IOC) is:

• To enhance ILSI’s understanding of policy and program directions at FAO and WHO.
• To afford an opportunity for FAO and WHO to receive ILSI’s scientific input related to nutrition and physical activity, food safety, risk assessment, and environmental health.
• To contribute to the success of policies and programs at FAO and WHO.

REASONS FOR JOINING IOC

Through collaborative efforts with FAO and WHO, IOC members benefit from:

• Expanded role in improving safety and quality of food and nutrition, especially in developing countries—opportunity to “make a difference.”
• Opportunities to participate as observers at Codex, FAO and WHO meetings and conferences.
• Opportunities for scientific input on policy and regulatory issues worldwide as well as locally.
• Opportunities to further the understanding of scientific underpinnings and the development of consensus on policy and regulatory issues.
• Leveraging of science, information, and network of experts.

Scientific Advisors

The committee membership includes academic scientists who are interested in working with ILSI and the United Nations agencies to improve health.  The following individuals are currently serving as Scientific Advisors:

• Dr. G. Harvey Anderson, University of Toronto, Canada
• Dr. Corazon V.C. Barba, Institute of Human Nutrition and Food, The Phillipines
• Dr. Alan Boobis, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
• Dr. Ib Knudsen, Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research (retired), Denmark
• Dr. Flavio Zambrone, Planitox, Brazil

PRIMARY AREAS OF WORK

1) Collaborate with WHO on public health issues.

The IOC is supporting a database manager position for WHO’s Health Impacts Database Project.  This database will house published and unpublished data on health impacts and will initially be available to WHO staff worldwide. 

ILSI co-sponsored and participated in a WHO Expert Consultation on Nutrient Minerals in Drinking Water and Potential Health Consequences of Long-term Consumption of Desalinated and Other Low-Mineral Content Waters, held in Rome, Italy, in November 2003.  The IOC identified experts for that meeting and provided funding.  The premise of the meeting was that epidemiological data support an association between consumption of hard water and reduced risk for cardiovascular disease. Water hardness is caused mainly by calcium and magnesium salts.  The meeting focused on determining whether public health benefit could be derived from adding specific nutritional mineral salts, i.e., calcium, magnesium and fluoride, to desalinated water. 

The conclusions were that there are only a few minerals in natural waters in sufficient concentrations and distribution to expect that their consumption from drinking water could influence dietary intake in some populations.  Magnesium and calcium were the most likely minerals identified in populations that consume hard water. There is enough epidemiological evidence to warrant further research on the mechanisms, biochemistry, and physiological functions of magnesium and calcium in hard water on cardiovascular disease.  A summary of the meeting with recommendations will be published in the near future. 

The NSF International and ILSI sponsored a Symposium on Health Aspects of Calcium and Magnesium in Drinking Water.  The symposium was held on 24–26 April 2006, in Baltimore, Maryland.   The symposium speakers reviewed the benefits of consuming calcium and magnesium on public health, with emphasis on the risk of cardiovascular disease.  Most bottled waters in the United States are ‘soft’ and the speakers addressed whether there is a scientific basis for adding calcium and magnesium to such water. 

Following the symposium, WHO held an expert meeting to develop recommendations to be considered in the development of Fourth Edition of the WHO Guidelines for Drinking Water Quality.  The report of this expert meeting (WHO Meeting of Experts on the Possible Protective Effect of Hard Water against Cardiovascular Disease) is available on the WHO website.

2) Encourage Codex Alimentarius to continue to base standards on sound science.

By identifying emerging issues that will be relevant to Codex in the future and developing scientific knowledge to address these issues, IOC is able to provide valuable support to the Codex process. 

The IOC sponsored work on Collection of Foodborne Illness Data from Developing Countries, an emerging scientific area of interest to Codex.  ILSI established an Advisory Committee that includes representatives of government agencies, scientific organizations, universities, and the industry from the United States, Canada, European Union, Asia, and Africa as well as a representative from the Food and Agriculture Organization.   There are also two observers representing the WHO Food Safety Program and the Pan American Health Organization.  The committee is charged to:

• Identify and prioritize data needs for the microbial risk assessment.
• Identify methods for collecting and archiving data and making them accessible.
• Propose strategies for the development of infrastructure to permit the acquisition and storage of microbial risk assessment data.
• Identify organizations that may encourage, support, or fund the development of infrastructure for data collection systems. 

It is anticipated that the final document will be published in the Journal of Food Protection in mid-2007.  The document will:

• Include specific information on how governments can use existing data, and what types of new data may need to be generated.
• List both the minimum and the optimum data sets needed for microbial risk assessment.

IOC comments on scientific documents developed by Codex and participates as an observer in meetings of the Codex Committees.

ILSI Comments Submitted to Codex in 2008

ILSI Comments Submitted to Codex in 2007

• Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses – submitted comments on the definition of dietary fiber in response to CL 2007/3-NFSDU on Guidelines for the Use of Nutrition Claims: Draft Table of Conditions for Nutrient Content Claims (Part B Provisions for Dietary fibre) at Step 6.  Comments are available here.
• Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses – submitted an ILSI Europe paper entitled, “Safe amounts of gluten for patients with wheat allergy or celiac disease,” published in Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics (Hischenhuber C et al. 2006:23(5):559-575).  This paper is of interest to the discussion of the Standard for Gluten Free Foods (ALINORM 07/30/26, para 108 and Appendix IV.  The paper may be downloaded from the ILSI Europe website.

ILSI Comments Submitted to Codex in 2006

• Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants – 24-28 April 2006, The Hague, The Netherlands – provided copies of three ILSI Europe documents – “Ochratoxin A in Food: Recent Developments and Significance,” “Trichothecenes with a Special Focus on Deoxynivalenol (DON),” and “Acrylamide: Human Exposure and Internal Dose Assessments of Acrylamide in Food.”
• Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling – 15-19 May 2006, Budapest, Hungary – submitted comments on the draft document (CX/MAS 06/27/7), Consideration of the Methods for the Detection and Identification of Foods Derived from Biotechnology.
• Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses – 30 October – 3 November 2006, Chiang Mai, Thailand – supported the draft Codex definition of dietary fibre (ALINORM 06/29/26 para 28 and Appendix III) as well as the AACC International definition.
• Codex Committee on Food Hygiene – 4-9 December 2006, Houston, Texas, USA – Provided copies of the ILSI Europe document, “Food Safety Objectives – Role of Microbiological Food Safety Management,” which is a report of an ILSI Europe/ICMSF workshop.

ILSI Comments Submitted to Codex in 2005

• Joint FAO/WHO Project on Nutrient Risk Assessment:  Comments on Background Paper (August 2005)
• Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU)
• Comments on Proposed Draft Recommendations on the Scientific Basis of Health Claims (October 2005)
• Comments on Guidelines for the Use of Nutrition Claims: Codex Definition of Dietary Fiber (November 2005)

2007 Codex Meetings Attended by ILSI

• Codex Committee on Food Labelling, 30 April – 4 May 2007, Ottawa, Canada
• Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology Working Group to discuss Annex to the Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plans: Food Safety Assesment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants Modified for Nutritional or Health Benefits, 7-9 May 2007, Ottawa, Canada

2006 Codex Meetings Attended by ILSI

• Codex Committee on Food Labeling, 1-5 May 2006, Ottawa, Canada
• Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, 30 October – 3 November 2006, Chiang Mai, Thailand
• Codex Coordinating Committee for Asia, 21-24 November 2006, Seoul, Korea
• Codex AD HOC Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology, 27 November – 1 December 2006, Chiba, Japan

2005 Codex Meetings Attended by ILSI

• FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on the Development of Practical Risk Management Strategies Based on Microbiological Risk Assessment Outputs, April 2005, Budapest, Hungary
• 58th Session of the Codex Regional Committee for South-East Asia, September 2005, Colombo, Sri Lanka
• Codex Ad Hoc Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology, September 2005, Chiba, Japan
• Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, November 2005, Bonn, Germany

3)Collaborate with FAO on capacity building in developing countries:

• Encourage the development of scientifically-based food regulatory systems and harmonization of food regulations across countries.
• Encourage and provide guidance on the use of risk analysis in a modern food safety system. 

In 2007, FAO and ILSI signed a Memorandum of Understanding outlining ILSI’s role as a partner with FAO in capacity building activities.  Such activities were carried out through the IOC’s FAO/ILSI Cooperative Framework in 1996-2004.  Similar activities are expected to be carried out through the IOC in the future.

The committee, through the FAO/ILSI Cooperative Framework, helped FAO organize regional and national level capacity-building workshops and documents aimed at:

• risk assessment methodology,
• use of scientifically-based food regulatory systems, and
• development of scientifically-sound food-based dietary guidelines.

Such capacity building (mandated by the WTO agreement) enhances developing country regulators’ and public health policymakers’ knowledge of the science in these areas, and encourages adoption of science-based regulations and public health policies.

• FAO/ILSI Cooperative Framework organized regional and national level training workshops for developing country regulators.  In the past three years, these activities included:
• ASEAN Workshop on Food Safety and Exposure Assessment (organized by ILSI SEA Region), Singapore, 4-5 March 2002
• FAO/ILSI/ILSI Focal Point in China Workshop on Microbiological Risk Assessment, Beijing, China, 10-11 May 2002
• FAO/INTI/ILSI Mercosur Risk Analysis Workshop. Risk Assessment of Food Contaminants and Additives, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 12-13 August 2002 (co-organized by ILSI Argentina)
• FAO/WHO Workshop (in collaboration with ILSI) on Applying Food Safety Risk Analysis in Africa-Practical Approaches, Kampala, Uganda, 25 November 2002
• FAO/WHO Workshop (in collaboration with ILSI) on Applying Food Safety Risk Analysis in Latin America and the Caribbean-Practical Approaches, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 8 December 2002
• ILSI/ILSI India/FAO Regional Meeting on Modernizing Food Control Systems in SAARC Countries, Kathmandu, Nepal, 10-11 December 2002

These ILSI-sponsored activities were identified and summarized in a Codex document, “Capacity Building for Food Standards and Regulations”, which was written by FAO and WHO to show they had met the mandate given to them by the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) agreement in the Uruguay round of the Multilateral Trade Negotiations. 

Other activities organized by the FAO/ILSI Cooperative Framework included:

• FAO/WHO Workshop on Food Control Systems – Modern Approaches in the Near East Region (in collaboration with ILSI), Cairo, Egypt, 19 January 2003
• FAO/ILSI Food Safety Workshop at the Asian Congress of Nutrition, New Delhi, India, February 2003
• FAO/WHO Workshop on Food Control Systems – Practical Approaches in the Southern African Region, Pretoria, South Africa, 1 September 2003
• SAARC Workshop on Food Safety, Goa, India, 19-20 September 2003
• 4th Asian Food Safety and Nutrition Conference, Bali, Indonesia, March 2-5, 2004
• FAO/WHO Workshop on Global Risk Analysis and Risk Assessment Training, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia, March 4, 2004
• FAO/ILSI Workshop on Food control Systems: Practical Approaches for the Andean Region, Quito, Ecuador, March 19, 2004 
• FAO/WHO Workshop on Functional Foods: Safety and Regulatory Aspects (pre-CC Asia), Jeju-do, Republic of Korea, September 6, 2004
• FAO/ILSI Workshop on Food Safety in SAARC Countries, Colombo, Sri Lanka, November 25-27, 2004 —Follow-up activity on the 2003 workshop held in Goa, India
• Collaboration with FAO and WHO on the Food Safety Risk Analysis Manual

The IOC has a long-term commitment to such training, which strengthens regulators’ understanding of the value of scientifically-based decision making.  By working hand-in-hand with WHO and FAO, IOC has been able to ensure that credible scientific information is shared with the workshop participants and that they are empowered to develop guidance appropriate for their specific needs.  The local food industry has been able to take a more active role in developing the guidance.

2007 Committee Members

Ajinomoto Company, Inc.
The Coca-Cola Company
Kraft Foods, Inc.
DSM
Mars Incorporated
Nestlé
Senomyx, Inc.
The Procter & Gamble Company
Unilever

For more information, please contact Dr. Suzie Harris, ILSI Executive Director, at sharris@ilsi.org.