Q. What information is in the portal?

A. The following types of content are included: international and national standards, recommended codes of practice, laws, regulations, trade notifications, risk assessments, maximum residue limits, national contact point details and related supporting documentation.

Q. Where is the information sourced from?

A. Records in the portal are taken from nearly 50 different competent national institutions, standard setting bodies, international and regional agencies. New datasets are added as they become available.

Q. Why is the portal unique?

A. The portal assembles usually disparate official information on food safety, animal and plant health in a single location. Each record is cross-referenced by commodity, country, issue, source, and information type, allowing for powerful cross-sectoral searches.

Q. How up-to-date is information in IPFSAPH?

A. The majority of content is updated automatically from original sources (e.g. trade notifications, pest and disease alerts). New releases of the portal are published nearly every week.

Q. What language(s) are documents available in?

A. Documents are available in their original language. Where the original language is not English, French or Spanish summaries in those languages are provided. The site is navigable in English, French and Spanish.

Q. Can my country submit information?

A. Yes. The portal actively encourages the inclusion of national documentation relevant to the SPS Agreement. Please email IPFSAPH@fao.org for more information.

Q. Who is the portal for?

The portal is targeted at individuals from national government agencies, scientific and private sector institutions, as well as regional and international organizations.