The Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF) takes place in Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America from 21 to 25 October 2025. The Committee will be chaired for the second time by Dr Brandi Robinson, USA. In the lead up to the meeting, Brandi sat down with the Codex Secretariat to talk about the committee and its work. Brandi, thanks for your time. You have been involved with CCRVDF for many years now. What’s your take on the [...]

The Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products begins its 36th session on Monday 7 Otober 2024. Meeting for the second time by correspondence via the Codex online platform, CCFFP36 is set to complete work on the Standard for Canned Sardines and Sardine-Type Products (CXS 94-1981) to include the fish species S. lemuru in the list of Sardinella species. We sat down with Chairperson Vigdis Synnøve Veum, Norway, to learn more about the work ahead. Vigdis, thanks for your time. CCFFP is working by correspondence for the [...]

The forty-fourth meeting of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) will take place 2–6 October in Dresden, Germany. We spoke to Martine Püster and Carolin Bendadani, who will co-chair CCNFSDU44 on behalf of Germany, to find out more about their expectations for the meeting and the committee. Martine, Carolin, thanks for your time. Martine let’s start with you. This is the second time you will chair CCNFSDU. What do you recall of the experience of [...]

The Ministerial segment of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) meets this week, to review progress on a cluster of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) was one of the entities invited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to submit information for this review, in an indication of the impact Codex work has at a global level. The request for information underlines the significance of Codex work to the Sustainable Development Agenda [...]

The Seventh Session of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH7), 29 January – 2 February 2024, Kochi, Kerala, India, will open the 2024 cycle of meetings of Codex Subsidiary Bodies. We sat down with M.R. Sudharshan, Chairperson of CCSCH, to talk about the Committee, its current and future work, and the tasteful and colorful world of spices. Q. Sri Sudharshan, thank you for your time. CCSCH is the most recently formed commodity committee in Codex and you have been [...]

The Codex Committee on Food Additives is renown for its physical working groups that lead up to the full plenary which beings on Monday 27 March, 2023. These groups carry out the groundwork for the topics the full committee will then need to focus on. Ahead of the first Friday session, the Codex Secretariat managed to speak to two of the experts who lead this work. Paul Honigfort, United States of America is Chairperson of the physical working group on the [...]

The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) met virtually on 15 March 2023 to successfully adopt the report of the session, sending the “Standard for Follow-Up Formula for Older Infants and Product for Young Children” for final adoption by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in November this year. The Chairperson of CCNFSDU Anja Brönstrup, Germany, congratulated the committee on its work, the milestones achieved and the special willingness amongst delegates to complete topics some of which, such [...]

The FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Asia (CCASIA22) is taking place virtually from 12 to 21 October 2022. Welcoming delegates via video message, Lei Haichao , Vice Minister of the National Health Commission of China underlined the host government’s commitment to actively implementing their role as Regional Coordinator and to promote technology, partnership and exchanges among Members. “Codex is studying future working modalities as well as new kinds of the food and new production systems,” he said emphasizing China's engagement with [...]

Although this session will be held virtually, Chairperson Jing TIAN, China, encourages all Member Countries in the region attending the meeting, “to actively participate and to discuss issues of mutual interest, confirm the regional priorities and activities under the framework of the Codex Strategic Plan 2020-2025 and promote the harmonization of regional standards”. The proposals for these standards include soybean products fermented with Bacillus species. Natto, Cheonggukjang and Thua Nao will be covered by the standard and the basic ingredients for [...]

A workshop on application of the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene was held in El Salvador from 27 to 29 September 2022, as part of the Codex Trust Fund Group Project for El Salvador and Guatemala. The workshop was facilitated thanks to the support of the PAHO/WHO Pan American Centre for Foot and Mouth Disease, which allowed food sanitary surveillance officials, food producers, academia and consumers from El Salvador and Guatemala, to strengthen their technical capacities for the control, production [...]