Georgia Tech's Center for European and Transatlantic Studies welcomes Mary Frances Lowe, director of the U.S. Codex Office in the Food Safety and Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Summary:
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, the joint UN Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization food standards program, is tasked with the twin objectives of facilitating food trade and ensuring food safety. Its responsibilities include establishing maximum residue limits for pesticides and veterinary drugs, as well as standards for food additives and contaminants, codes of hygienic practices, labeling, and commodity standards. The Commission is recognized as the international standards-setting body for food safety in international trade agreements. Differences in American and European approaches to food safety regulation often play out within the Commission.

About the speaker:
Ms. Lowe is responsible for managing U.S. government work in the development and adoption of international standards by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Her previous positions include leading international public health, chemical and food safety programs at the Environmental Protection Agency (Office of Pesticide Programs), Department of State (Office of Environmental Policy), Food and Drug Administration, and Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to coming to the Executive Branch, she served as Professional Staff Member for U.S. Senate Committees with responsibility for public health, food safety and environmental protection issues.

She has an MPH in epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and graduate degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and the Graduate Institute of International Studies of the University of Geneva, Switzerland.