The 54th meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) has concluded in Chengdu, China, with some landmark agreements, and at a pivotal moment in the Committee’s workplan, according to Dr Yongxiang Fan, Professor of the China National Centre for Food Safety Risk Assessment (CFSA), and Committee Chairperson. “I believe one day when we look back, CCFA54 will be seen as a remarkable starting point for the planning of future CCFA work,” he said. “We have identified the outstanding issues in alignment, and agreed to work on these and to come up with solutions for CCFA, working collaboratively with commodity and regional committees.” The meeting was marked by an exceptional level of collaboration and consensus building with little need for extensive discussions in plenary as delegates made a point of discussing issues outside of the main meeting.

Thus, outstanding issues on the core work of aligning Codex commodity standards and Codex texts with the General Standard for Food Additives (GFSA) (CXS 192-1995) will be resolved by strengthening the GSFA as the single reference for food additives, minimizing the incorporation of specific food additive provisions in commodity standards as much as possible, and ensuring that alignment work is completed, with any future specific food additive provisions developed by commodity and regional committees being incorporated into the GSFA.

As a result of agreements on the GSFA, CCFA54 will send over 350 food additive provisions for adoption by the 47th Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC47) later this year. Among those will be the new jagua (genipin-glycine) blue (INS 183) food colorant, the first natural blue food colour to have been developed. It is derived from the jagua tree, which is native to southern America, and has been developed in Colombia in line with Convention on Biological Diversity protocols and in collaboration with indigenous groups. The agreement to recommend inclusion of this food colour into the GSFA was greeted with delight by the lead Colombian delegate, who highlighted the significant benefits of the inclusion of jagua blue in the GSFA for indigenous communities in their country and the Latin American region. “This inclusion can improve the economy of these communities by opening up new markets and commercial opportunities and can also drive biodiversity conservation and the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices,” he said.

The Committee also agreed to forward proposals for revisions of the Class Names and International Numbering System for Food Additives (CXG 36-1989) to CAC47, together with an amended priority list of substances proposed for evaluation by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). The Committee also agreed to recommend the development of a standard for yeast.

Dr Yongxiang commended the hard work that was put in to achieving agreement on such a significant number and range of topics and thanked delegates and the Codex, JECFA and CCFA secretariats, with a special thank you for staff “working on logistical issues, including registration, reception, coordinating facilities and equipment, all the elements that ensured the success of this meeting. Most importantly,” he concluded, “I feel very honoured that the Chair of the Coordinating Committee for Asia, Dr Tian Jing, has provided significant support by leading the host Secretariat team.”

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