The Codex General Standard on Contaminants and Toxins in Food

4 The Codex General Standard on Contaminants and Toxins in Food 

Six years later, in 1997, the superior body of the Codex Alimentarius, the CAC, accepted the CCFAC proposal for a GSCTF at the final step 8, in the form of a Preamble with five Annexes. The five annexes cover, respectively  

The GSCTF, however, does not yet contain figures pertaining to the maximum limits (MLs) for contaminants and toxins in the various food groups. The MLs are presently under development by the CCFAC for the contaminants, which are to be included in the GSCTF. This is done in the form of draft standards for each individual contaminant, in foods. 

The Dutch-Danish 1991 philosophy paper highlighted that the Codex definition of a contaminant does not include inherent natural toxins (e.g. the glucosinolates and phycotoxins), since these substances are present in food as a result of the metabolic processes in the organism. It was then decided to have the GSCTF also to include such toxins, as they may in many ways be similar to contaminants. Many toxins are at least as toxic to humans as most contaminants, and they may also cause problems in international trade.10 It was also recommended and agreed by the CCFAC that the GSCTF should be based upon a horizontal approach, i.e. covering the important contaminants in all relevant foods, and that the MLs should be set as low as reasonably achievable - the ALARA principle. 

The paper recommended that a decision on whether international action should be taken on a contaminant in food should be based upon the following criteria  

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