For the first time after the Covid-19 pandemic, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has concluded with a physical report adoption. This brings to a close a momentous meeting that opened with festivities celebrating the 60th anniversary of the first CAC in 1963. The 46th session of CAC adopted a series of new food safety and quality standards including: the new Guidelines for the Control of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in Raw Beef, Fresh Leafy Vegetables, Raw Milk and Raw Milk [...]

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched a new brochure "How can Codex standards help tackle foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR)?" which explains how Codex standards help tackle foodborne antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This new reference document describes the three core texts Codex has developed specifically on foodborne AMR: The Guidelines for Risk Analysis of Foodborne Antimicrobial Resistance (CXG 77-2011) enable countries to identify issues specific to their own contexts, establish priorities and implement targeted interventions. The Guidelines on the [...]

FAO has published a report called Food safety implications from the use of environmental inhibitors in agrifood systems which offers an overview of substances that are used to reduce methane emissions from livestock and limit the loss of nitrogen from farmlands and pastures. The report focuses on their possible food safety-related concerns and gives examples of legal frameworks regulating these compounds at national and regional level. It also highlights regulatory needs and steps to move forward. This publication falls within the [...]

A well-attended side event was held at the 46th Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC46) 28 November which heard from young people and former Codex Chairpersons on the subject of how to sustain the work of Codex by engaging young people in its activities. The event was held at the invitation of former Codex Chairperson, Awilo Ochieng Pernet who also chaired the event, with the support of the Government of Switzerland. Ochieng Pernet opened the event with a story she had heard from [...]

Revisions to the Codex Standard for Follow-up Formula (CXS 156-1987) were adopted 28 November by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The text has been renamed to the Standard for Follow-up Formula for Older Infants and Product for Young Children in order to highlight the point of differentiation at 12 months of age due to different nutritional requirements of older infants and young children. The adoption of this text concludes over 10 years of deliberations within the Codex Committee on Nutrition and [...]

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has voted to adopt maximum residue limits (MRLs) for zilpaterol hydrochloride. The MRLs have been the subject of debate within the Commission for some years and Chairperson Steve Wearne had made it clear that he and the Vice-Chairpersons had perceived among the Members “a recognition that time is now growing short, and a sense of impatience that this issue should be resolved at CAC46.” This impatience was reflected in discussions during the plenary session. The decision [...]

The 46th Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) opened 27 November with a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the first CAC meeting. As part of the festivities, all countries that host or have ever hosted a Codex committee were honoured. Among them was Spain, as host of the little-known Joint Codex/International Olive Oil Council (IOOC – formerly IOC) Meeting on the Standardization of Table Olives (CXTO), which worked over two sessions in 1971 and 1973. The CXTO is mentioned briefly in this [...]

The 2023 edition of the CODEX magazine has been published ahead of the 60th anniversary Codex Alimentarius Commission meeting, CAC46, which will take place 27 November–2 December at FAO headquarters in Rome. In addition to the regular CODEX magazine features, this “bumper” edition of the magazine takes a look at key milestones throughout Codex’s history, from its first Commission meeting in 1963 through to this anniversary year, and explores different opinions on what the future may and must hold for a [...]

The 46th meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) has opened with a celebration of the Commission’s 60 years of standards setting, in which the past, future and relevance of Codex were discussed by a range of experts, and long-standing contributions to Codex were recognized. The opening session, facilitated by Corinna Hawkes, Director of the FAO Food Systems and Food Safety Division and Codex Secretary ad interim, heard from the FAO and WHO Directors-General Qu Dongyu and Tedros Ghebreyesus on the [...]

The 46th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission was opened at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on 27 November by the Directors-General of FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) with celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the first Commission meeting in 1963. Dr Qu Dongyu, FAO’s Director-General welcomed the more-than 700 delegates from Codex Member Countries and Observer Organizations who have travelled from almost 160 countries to attend the Commission meeting in [...]