A successful 49th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling has concluded in Ottawa, Canada. Upon adoption of the session report, Chairperson Parthiban Muthukumarasamy congratulated the delegates for the week’s achievements. “I would like to highlight what truly defines this committee,” he said. “The spirit and the cooperation throughout this week; we have seen open dialogue, respect for different perspectives, and the willingness to find common ground. This is not always easy and particularly when addressing issues that intersect [...]

The 49th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) opened in Ottawa, Canada, with a warm welcome from Chairperson, Parthiban Muthukumarasamy, and opening remarks from Dr Celia Lourenco, Associate Assistant Deputy Minister of the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada. “Canada places a high importance on the work done by Codex. Like many of you, we believe that the work of Codex is imperative to achieving our national food safety, public health and consumer protection objectives,” said [...]

Dr Parthiban Muthukumarasamy, Director-General at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, has been Chairperson of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) since 2024. He has represented Canada at both the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) and the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) and so has been involved firsthand in Codex work and has direct knowledge of the importance of international standards and guidance. We caught up with him to hear more about [...]

The 48th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling has concluded in Quebec City, Canada. In his closing remarks Chairperson Parthi Muthukumarasamy thanked delegates for “the great work for the last 4 or 5 days. “We had an additional day of plenary at CCFL48,” he said, “thanks for the great work and thanks to everyone for staying an additional day in order for us to make progress on a number of texts, which we have done, through the collaboration [...]

The 48th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) has commenced in Quebec City, Canada, with first-time Chairperson Dr Parthi Muthukumarasamy presiding. Opening remarks were offered bilingually by Deputy Minister, Health Canada Greg Orencsak in a video message. With his “warm welcome to all delegates and observers from around the world”, the Deputy Minister, made clear that Canada “places a high importance on the work done by Codex.” He continued, “We believe that the work of Codex is imperative [...]

In this interview with the Codex Secretariat, the new Chairperson of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL), Dr Parthi Muthukumarasamy, talks about his background, his experience with Codex and the agenda of the 48th session of CCFL which gets underway in Quebec City, Canada on 27 October 2024. Parthi, thanks for your time. This is going to be the first time for you to chair CCFL. For those who don’t know you, could you please introduce yourself? First of all, let me [...]

Under the theme “My health, my right”, this year’s World Health Day is championing “the right of everyone, everywhere to have access to quality health services, education, and information.” From a Codex perspective, the theme touches on many aspects of food standards setting work. The Codex Alimentarius itself is an open access resource of all the science-based information developed into standards, guidelines and codes of practice that support countries to ensure food produced both domestically and for export is safe [...]

Cara Tannenbaum, Departmental Science Advisor to Health Canada, welcomed delegates to the 47th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) taking place from 15-19 May 2023 in Gatineau, Ottawa in Canada. “Codex has served the global community well, allowing us to leverage the best possible science and evidence to support international standard setting,” she said, underling how countries consider the international labelling standards developed by the committee as they develop their own food labelling regulations and policies for [...]

The 46th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL46), hosted virtually by Canada from Ottawa, concluded on 7 October 2021 sending a new standard for the labelling of non-retail containers and guidelines for front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FOPNL) to the Codex Alimentarius Commission for adoption in November. Chairperson, Kathy Twardek (pictured centre above), congratulating participants on the important progress made during the meeting said “it's stunning, really, I am thrilled. As a result of a lot of collaboration and flexibility, [...]

Over 400 delegates gathered online for the opening session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) which runs from 27 September to 7 October 2021, hosted, since its inception in 1965, by Canada. Harpreet Kochhar, Associate Deputy Minister of Health Canada, welcomed delegates and described Canada’s relationship with the committee as one of the country’s longest standing and most significant international engagements in food and nutrition. “Making decisions and choices about food is an important aspect of daily life. International labelling [...]