Standards are "the hidden infrastructure of modern economies" according to the World Bank’s World Development Report 2025, which focuses on standards for development. In a corroboration of the Codex maxim that standards are the invisible thread that links up the food supply chain, the report considers Codex standards alongside many other types of standards. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was host, Monday 2 March, to an event led, in collaboration with the Codex Secretariat, by the World Bank team involved [...]

On 2 March 2026, the World Bank Group Institute for Economic Development and the Codex Secretariat will host a high-level session to discuss the role of standards in global development. With the participation of FAO and IPPC, the event will center on findings from the World Development Report (WDR) 2025, Standards for Development, exploring how technical frameworks serve as the "hidden infrastructure" that determines the success of agrifood systems. The discussion will focus on the following areas: Standards underpin trust and market access [...]

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 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 [...]

More than 100 participants took part on 25 May 2022 in the first of a series of online events for work underway in the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS). Tom Heilandt Codex Secretary said “it is a wonderful initiative to keep these meetings informal so we can really learn together and get up to date on what’s happening”. The Codex Standard 234, Recommended Methods of Analysis and Sampling, is undergoing review to ensure the methods used in [...]

The twenty-second session of the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CCFFV) is taking place virtually from 25 April to 4 May 2022 and was opened in front of more than 200 participants by Dr Alfonso Guati-Rojo Sánchez, Director General in the General Bureau of Standards of the Ministry of Economy of Mexico and Chairperson of the committee. In 34 years CCFFV has developed 42 international standards, which have served as the technical basis for the development of national regulations [...]