The Codex Alimentarius Commission was established by FAO and WHO to develop international food standards, guidelines and recommendations to protect the health of consumers and to ensure fair practices in the food trade. This collection of food standards, entitled the Codex Alimentarius, or the food code, has become the global reference point for consumers, food producers and processors, national food control agencies and the international food trade. This code has had an enormous impact on the thinking of food producers and processors, and has enhanced awareness among end users the consumers. Its influence extends to every continent, and its contribution to the protection of public health and fair practices in the food trade is immeasurable.

This paper is intended to provide an overview of the application of some analytical techniques to ensure seafood safety and authenticity. The first part examines traditional and modern methods for the detection and typing of agents implicated in seafood-borne diseases, i.e. toxins, viruses, bacteria and parasites. Immunological analyses, molecular biology methods (such as polymerase chain reaction [PCR] and related techniques), and protein-based analyses (including proteomics) for detection and typing are discussed. The detection of strains carrier of resistance to disinfectants and some antibiotics is specially addressed. The second part deals with methods to ensure seafood authenticity, a problem which has evolved due to increasing international trade of processed and aquacultured fish of a great variety of species. Most countries have...

The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international food standards that have been adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Codex standards cover all the main foods, whether processed, semi-processed or raw. In addition, materials used in the further processing of food products are included to the extent necessary for achieving the principal objectives of the code - protecting the health of consumers and facilitating fair practices in the food trade. Codex provisions concern the hygienic and nutritional quality of food, including microbiological norms, food additives, pesticide and veterinary drug residues, contaminants, labelling and presentation, and methods of sampling and risk analysis. As well as individual standards, advisory codes of practice, guidelines and other recommended measures form an important part of...