BACKGROUND

The ASEAN Cocoa Club Technical Working Group on Food Safety (TWGFS) was established during the 10 th Meeting of the National Focal Point for ASEAN Cocoa Club (ACC) on ASEAN Cooperation and Joint Approaches in Agriculture and Forest Products Promotion Scheme held on 26 – 27 June 2007 at the Inna Kuta Beach, Hotel, Cottage and Spa, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia.

OBJECTIVES

To provide and share information to address food safety issues pertaining to cocoa and cocoa products among the ASEAN member countries.
To develop or adapt mechanism in promoting agreements on ASEAN position in food safety for consideration and approval by the ACC.

FUNCTIONS

To provide information on the current status of the country’s initiatives relative to food safety on cocoa and cocoa products and related activities.
To monitor and update information on food safety requirements imposed by importing countries.
To address issues of importance related to food safety
To develop database on food safety.
To share knowledge and expertise on testing methodologies.
To harmonize the food safety requirements of the ASEAN member countries.

ACC TWGFS ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The structure of the ACC TWGFS and term of office are as follows:

The appointed Chairman of the ACC TWGFS is Malaysia.
The Vice–Chairman of the Meeting will be appointed during the meeting to be rotated among the ASEAN member countries.
The members of the ACC TWGFS consist of all ASEAN member countries comprising of two (2) technical and two (2) non–technical representatives of each ASEAN member countries.
The membership should comprise of the Food Safety experts including technical and non–technical members.

MEETING

The frequency of the ACC TWGFS meeting should be held once a year in accordance to the ASEAN Cocoa Club Meeting and to be continuously supported by electronic working group.