Commodity Codex Committees

In 1961/62 the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) to elaborate international food standards and codes of practice for questions related to food. Questions concerning contaminants were dealt with, partly by the Commodity Committees and partly in the Codex Committee for Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC). The Codex Alimentarius system concerning contaminants is described in section 12.2. 

Questions concerning contaminants were originally dealt with, partly by the many Commodity Committees, and partly in the Codex Committee for Food Additives, which became in the 1980s - when discussions on contaminants gained more prominence in the deliberations of the Committee - the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC). Now, the CCFAC, which meets every year, normally in The Hague, The Netherlands, is the appropriate forum in Codex for discussions concerning contaminants. 

Foods and Veterinary Medicine The FDA s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) actively participate in the development of international standards by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex). Codex is an international organization formed in 1962 to facilitate world trade in foods and to promote consumer protection. It is a subsidiary of two United Nations components, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the WHO. Codex standards cover food commodity standards (similar to FDA standards of identity), food additives, food contaminants, and residues of veterinary drugs in food. FDA officials chair two Codex committees, the Food Hygiene Committee and the Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods Committee, and participate in many others. 

Regional Codex Committees could play an important role in the coordination of field trials to be conducted for the purpose of setting MRLs. These countries could embark on studies pertaining to their respective countries interest and a coordinating effort be made on the pesticide-commodity combinations, timing of the trials, expected time for the results and the JMPR could be informed on the schedule of these for evaluation and elaboration. Technical assistance from the developed countries would be extremely beneficial in achieving the objective. 

In the Codex Procedure Manual 13 edition (2003), it is clearly written that All provisions in respect of food additives (including processing aids) and contaminants contained in Codex commodity standards should be referred to the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants preferably after the standards have been advanced to step 5 of the Procedure for the Elaboration of Codex Standards or before they are considered by the Commodity Committee concerned at Step 7, though such reference should not be allowed to delay the progress of the Standard to the subsequent Steps of the Procedure. ... 

All provisions in respect of food additives will require to be endorsed by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, on the basis of technological justification submitted by the commodity committees and of the recommendations of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives concerning the safety-in-use (acceptable daily intake (ADI) and other restrictions) and an estimate of the potential and, where possible, the actual intake of the food additives, ensuring conformity with the General Principles for the Use of Food Additives . 

The standards and limits adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission are intended for formal acceptance by governments in accordance with its general principles. Codex Alimentarius permits only those antioxidants which have been evaluated by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) for use in foods. Antioxidants may be used only in foods standardised by Codex. The antioxidant provisions of Codex Commodity Standards are included in and superseded by the provision of this Standard. Food categories or individual foods where the use of additives are not allowed or are restricted are defined by this Standard. The primary objective of establishing permitted levels of use of antioxidants in various food groups is to ensure that the intake does not exceed the acceptable daily intake (ADI). 

There certainly is a need from time to time to revise provisions in established Codex standards. In order to take into account the development in general knowledge or changes in evaluation of problems related to food safety, to food production technology and to methods of analysis and sampling, there are procedures for how such revisions are done. When a standard established by a Commodity Committee, which has been adjourned sine die, is to be revised, the Codex Secretariat in co-operation with the national secretariat of the adjourned Committee will look after the revision. 

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