Organisation and Contacts
The International LanguaL Steering Committee
The Charter of the International LanguaL Steering Committee was signed by nine national/international organisations in 1995. The principal goal of this charter is to provide a commitment and a mechanism to work together on developing ways to describe, share and exchange food information using LanguaL and to provide a common unified oversight of technical committee activities.
The original members of the International LanguaL Steering Committee are U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Centre de Rechèrche pour l'Étude et l'Observation des Conditions de Vie (CRÉDOC), Centre National des Études Vétérinaires (CNEVA-CIQUAL), Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), Iniversity of Horticulture and Food Industry of Budapest, National Food Agency of Denmark, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC-WHO), and FLAIR Eurofoods-Enfant (CEC) and its successor.
There are joint U.S. and European chairpersons of the Steering Committee. Advisors, consultants, and observers may be invited to specific meetings of the Steering Committee upon approval of a qualified majority of the steering committee voting members.
Recently (January 2008), a discussion concerning re-organisation of the International LanguaL Steering Committee and the sub-ordinate regional Technical Committees has started.
Regional LanguaL Technical Committees
The International Steering Committee accomplishes most of its work through two regional technical committees: a European Technical Committee and a U.S. Technical Committee. These have an open structure, with core members, chosen from members of the International LanguaL Steering Committee, responsible for the maintenance and updating of the LanguaL descriptor system and invited experts. Special interest groups on different topics are formed as need arises.
A thesaurus is an evolving language, which should reflect scientific and technological evolutions in the field of foods. Suggestions to introduce new concepts or to improve those proposed in this edition are therefore welcome. Eventual suggestions for updates/corrections should be send to the
European LanguaL Technical Committee and LanguaL Secretariat
c/o Dr. Jayne Ireland
Information Centre for Food Quality (AFSSA-Ciqual)
French Agency for Food Security (AFSSA)
27-31 avenue du Général Leclerc, BP 19
F-94701 Maisons-Alfort cedex , France
Fax: +33 1 49 77 38 92
E-mail:
or
U.S. LanguaL Technical Committee
c/o Elizabeth C. Smith
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
CDER, Office of the Center Director
Medical Informatics Staff, HF-18
Parklawn Building, Room 12-81
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857, USA
Fax: +1 301-827-7748
E-mail:
Other LanguaL contacts
Denmark
Anders Møller
Danish Food Information
Borgediget 12
DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark
E-mail:
Finland
Heli Reinivuo
National Public Health Institute
Mannerheimintie 166
FIN-00300 Helsinki, Finland
Fax: +358-9-47448591
Email:
France
Jean-Luc Volatier
Food Consumption Observatory (AFSSA-OCA)
French Agency for Food Security (AFSSA)
27-31 avenue du Général Leclerc, BP 19
F-94701 Maisons-Alfort cedex , France
Fax: +33 1 49 77 38 92
E-mail:
Hungary
Judit Monspart-Sényi
University of Horticulture and Food Industry
Ménesi út 45
H-1118 Budapest, Hungary
Fax: +36-1-1667435
E-mail:
USA
Joanne Holden
USDA-ARS-BHNRC-NDL
10300 Baltimore Blvd
Bldg 005, Rm 107, BARC-West
Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
E-mail:
WHO IARC
Nadia Slimani
WHO-IARC
150, cours Albert Thomas,
69008 Lyon, France
E-mail:
LanguaL is maintained by the EuroFIR Consortium under the EU 6th Framework Food Quality and Safety Programme (Contract No. FP6-513944).
This web site is hosted by Danish Food Information. Updated
2008-01-05.