Dr. Balentine holds the position of Senior Science Advisor International Nutrition Policy at the United States Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) (2019- current). In this role, Dr. Balentine supports the critical work of the Codex Alimentarius as the U.S. Delegate to both the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Use (CCNFSDU) and the Codex Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL). In addition, Dr. Balentine leads international activities and multilateral issues related to FDA’s nutrition and food labelling programs. This includes authoritative scientific and policy advice and guidance, and recommendations on international nutrition activities and programs, considering input from U.S. stakeholders while advancing FDA’s science-based public health mission. Formerly, Dr. Balentine served as the Director of the Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling at CFSAN from 2015-2019 and in that role, he provided leadership and scientific direction to a multidisciplinary staff that managed the regulatory programs relating to food labeling, nutrition, infant formula, and medical foods. Prior to joining FDA, he served as the Director of Nutrition and Health for Unilever North America and was a member of Unilever’s Global Nutrition Leadership Team. He has worked closely with many organizations and served on a number of committees with goals of improving public health. Dr. Balentine holds 10 U.S. patents and has over 40 publications in scientific literature. Dr. Balentine has a Ph.D. in food science and nutrition from Rutgers University.

Ingeniera de Alimentos e Ingeniera Ambiental y Sanitaria de la Universidad de la Salle, se encuentra en curso de la Maestría de la Economía de las Políticas Públicas en la Universidad del Rosario.

En los últimos 22 años me he desempeñado como profesional en el Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social, en el área de inocuidad de los alimentos.

Durante el tiempo de trabajo en el Ministerio, he adquirido experiencia en el desarrollo de reglamentación relacionada con inocuidad de los alimentos y de inspección, vigilancia y control de estos a nivel nacional. Punto de Contacto del Codex Alimentarius y secretaria técnica del Comité Nacional del Codex Alimentarius, coordinadora del Subcomité del Codex de Higiene de los Alimentos y he coordinado otros subcomités como el de resistencia a los antimicrobianos, especies y participó en algunos de los subcomités a nivel nacional como el de Sistemas de Inspección y Certificación de Importaciones y Exportaciones de Alimentos. Punto de Contacto en el Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social de notificación de reglamentos técnicos ante la Organización Mundial del Comercio y he participo en negociaciones comerciales, como la de EE. UU., la UE, MERCOSUR, Corea del Sur, entre otros.

Actualmente, participo en la puesta en marcha del Modelo de Inspección, Vigilancia y Control de alimentos, en el proyecto “Implementación de las normas del Codex Alimentarius para apoyar la contención y reducción de la resistencia a los antimicrobianos (RAM) transmitida por los alimentos”, debido a que los sistemas de alimentos juegan un rol importante en la propagación de RAM en la población. También, en las negociaciones comerciales, reglamentación sanitaria y las activades del Codex Alimentarius en Colombia.

Gracia Brisco works in the Codex Secretariat. For over 10 years she led several Codex worldwide commodity committees and grew extensive experience on Codex work on the development of commercial quality standards related to product description and essential composition and quality factors. For the past years, she has also provided support to Codex work on nutrition and conformity assessment in particular food import/export inspection/certification systems and methods of analysis and sampling. She has also wide experience on Codex work on food safety in key areas such as pesticide residues, veterinary drugs, contaminants, foodborne AMR and feed safety. She is currently located in the FAO Liaison Office in Geneva where part of her portfolio devotes to enhance cooperation with international organizations notably WTO and WHO. She represents the Codex Secretariat in meetings and activities of the WTO SPS and TBT Committees and also works closely with FAO and WHO on capacity building activities to assist countries to improve their participation in Codex work and the application of Codex standards.

Malose Daniel Matlala is the Deputy Director: Inter-Agency Liaison and Regulatory Nutrition in the Directorate: Food Control of the Department of Health (South Africa). He is also responsible for managing South Africa’s participation in Codex Alimentarius Commission as the National Codex Contact Point, since 2008 as well as being the delegate in CCGP, CCFL, CAC and CCAFRICA. Malose has been involved in Regulatory activities for over 24 years, having trained in the fields of Biological and Food Sciences, Quality Management Systems and Public Management.

Position: Specialist in Regulation and Sanitary Surveillance/Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA)

Since 2005, Rodrigo Vargas works at the Food Office of ANVISA, where he develops activities related to health surveillance and food regulation, including nutrition labelling regulation.

Esther Ngari is the Director, Standards Development and Trade at Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS). Backed by over 20 years of experience in the agri-food business, she has done exemplary work in the development of new standards in the country. A graduate of Dairy Science and Food Technology from Egerton University, she also holds a Master of Business Administration from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. Other areas of study include Agribusiness and Value Chain Analysis & Development from the University of Queensland, Australia. Esther also earned a Professional Diploma in Supply Chain Management from Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supplies (CIPS) in the United Kingdom and is also trained in Strategic Leadership Development Program. She is a certified Lead Auditor for Food Safety Management Systems, Quality Management Systems and Environmental Management Systems.

Ms. Kathy Twardek is a director in the Food Safety and Consumer Protection Directorate at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), Government of Canada, and is the Chairperson of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL).

Kathy has been a part of CFIA since it was established in 1997. She has extensive knowledge and experience on domestic regulatory frameworks for food labelling, food safety, and consumer protection through her various roles at the Government of Canada. Kathy has been active in Codex for nearly 20 years, contributing to the development of international food standards at CCFL and other Codex Committees such as the Codex Committee on Fats and Oils, the Codex Committee on General Principles, and the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products. Currently, she participates at both the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) as both a delegate and as Head of Delegation for Canada to the CAC in 2020 and 2021 and the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, as an advisor to North America.

Kathy has been the Chairperson of CCFL since May 2019.

Ingeniera en Industria Alimentaria y Magister en Alimentos, mención Gestión, Calidad e Inocuidad de los Alimentos. Sus capacidades se han centrado en la reglamentación nacional e internacional, trabajando en proyectos de cooperación internacional relacionados con inocuidad alimentaria y sanidad agropecuaria. Actualmente sus labores son el representar a Chile a través del Punto Focal del Codex Alimentarius en los distintos foros internacionales.

Lorena Rivera Orjuela, is a Trade Policy Advisor at the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the WTO. She has served In the Ministry of Trade for over 12 years, where she has also worked as advisor to the Vice Ministry of Foreign Trade, in the Directorate of Economic Integration and in the negotiations team. She is responsible for the files on Trade in Goods, including TBT; Trade and development; and Trade and Environment, where she is currently co-facilitating the Dialogue on Plastics Pollution.

She has an MA in Political Economy from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in International Relations at Universidad Externado de Colombia.

Mr. Rommel Betancourt is the General Coordinator of Food Safety of the Plant and Animal Health Regulation and Control Agency (AGROCALIDAD) in Ecuador, where he has worked on the development of the Primary Production Safety System in Ecuador and on process management, regulation, surveillance and control, among others.

Additionally, Mr. Betancourt is the president of the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean – CCLAC; Chairman of the Electronic Working Group of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods – CCCF; and president of the Inter-American Commission on Organic Agriculture. Additionally, he has been president of the National Committee of the Food Code, Codex Alimentarius.

Civil Servant at the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology and act as the Deputy Head of International Affairs. André is in charge to coordinate the National Codex Committee and the establishment of Codex national positions.

Verna Carolissen works in the Codex Secretariat. She has several years’ experience in the Codex Secretariat where she has been involved in managing several Codex worldwide committees ranging from committees on food hygiene, contaminants to methods of analysis and sampling, fish and fishery products and other commodity specific committees. More recently she is responsible for the Committees on nutrition and foods for special dietary uses and on food labelling. She has represented the Codex secretariat in the WTO TBT committee and currently supports activities of the WTO SPS and TBT Committees and also works closely with FAO and WHO on capacity building activities to assist countries to improve their participation in Codex work and the application of Codex standards.