The Codex Alimentarius Commission is a joint intergovernmental body of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and WHO with 186 Member States and one Member Organization (EU). Codex has worked since 1963 to create harmonized international food standards to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair trade practices.

WHO works on the provision of independent international scientific advice on microbiological and chemical hazards. Scientific advice is the basis for the development of international Food Standards by Codex.

The CODEX A L I M E N T A R I U S international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice contribute to the safety, quality and fairness of international food trade. Consumers can trust the safety and quality of the food products they buy and importers can trust that the food they ordered will be in accordance with their specifications.

Codex members cover 99% of the world's population. More and more developing countries are taking an active part in the Codex process - in many cases assisted by the Codex Trust Fund, which strives to finance - and train - participants from such countries to enable efficient participation.

Public concerns about food safety issues are often placing Codex at the centre of global debates. Biotechnology, pesticides, food additives and contaminants are some of the issues discussed in Codex meetings. Codex standards are based on the best available science assisted by independent international risk assessment bodies or ad-hoc consultations organized by FAO and WHO.

While being recommendations for voluntary application by members, Codex standards serve in many cases as a basis for national legislation.

The international food standards-setting body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, met to discuss guidelines and standards for a range of issues, including the control of Salmonella in beef and pork, food hygiene to control foodborne parasites, nutrient reference values for food package nutrition labels, safety of food additives, pesticide residues in food, and arsenic levels in rice. The Codex also outlined its future work on antimicrobial resistance.

According to decisions taken on 27 and 28 June, the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted guidelines for the control of Salmonella in beef and pork as well as maximum limits for pesticide residues in food respectively.

The guidelines adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission focus on practices from primary production to processing to prevent, reduce, or eliminate Salmonella in fresh beef and pork. In addition, the best way for consumers to avoid becoming sick from eating meat that may be contaminated with Salmonella is to cook it thoroughly.

Even when used in accordance with best practices, low levels of residues of pesticides can end up in food. To ensure that such residues do not cause harm to people’s health and based on risk assessments provided by a group of independent international experts (the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Pesticide Residues, JMPR), the Codex Alimentarius Commission has adopted maximum residue limits for more than 30 different pesticides in various foods.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission has agreed to initiate an overhaul of the existing text, including its annex on HACCP, to extend the scope of the GPFH, make them more user-friendly and incorporate the latest developments in food safety management.

The General Principles of Food Hygiene (GPFH) and its Annex: Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) System and Guidelines for its Application provide food business operators worldwide with the basis for producing food that is safe and suitable for consumption. Since its inception in the early 1970s, HACCP has become the universal system for the control of food safety, on which most regulatory food control systems and international food safety standards (e.g. ISO 22000) are based. HACCP or similar approaches to identifying hazards and establishing controls to prevent them have also been used in guidance on the safety of animal feed and drinking water.

Guidelines on food hygiene to control foodborne parasites;

Nutrient reference values for the guidelines on nutrition labeling;

Several new standards for the safe use of food additives; and

Maximum level of inorganic arsenic in husked rice

were other in-depth discussed issues.

The new Codex Trust Fund, or CTF2, was officially launched on 27 June. The first countries in which implementation will take place under CTF2 are Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar and Senegal. Many other countries submitted strong applications and will benefit from ongoing consultations with FAO/WHO to strengthen their applications prior to resubmission in subsequent rounds.

Dr. Shima Naghavi, Director of International Affairs