CODEX ALIMENTARIUS ASSIGNMENT

NAME : SITI AMIRA BINTI RUHANI GROUP : AS 116 4B2 ID NO : 2011487358 LECTURERS NAME : SIR HILMI HASSAN

INTRODUCTION
The Codex Alimentarius Commission, established

by FAO and World Health Organization (WHO) in 1963 develops harmonised international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice to protect the health of the consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade. The Commission also promotes coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

What is Codex Alimentarius?

DEFINITION CODEX ALIMENTARIUS is a latin words for food code. International code of voluntary standards for food additives, pesticide residue, veterinary drugs, and other issues that affect consumer food safety. The codex also contains rules and guidelines to promote fair practic es in food trade, and recommends an international code of hygiene and technological-practices.

Brief History of Codex

Began in 1893 when the Austria-Hungarian

empire decided it needed a specific set of guidelines by which the courts could rule on cases dealing with food. This was superseded by the Codex Alimentarius Europaeus, also known as the European Codex Alimentarius

 Moves to establish an international food safety

program were set in motion in 1943 when 44 nations met for a United Nations (UN) conference on food and agriculture to establish an international body to assist governments to extend and improve standards of nutrient content of all important foods. From this meeting the present-day Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was born. The FAO later worked closely with the World Health Organization (WHO) in an attempt to oversee the widening use of chemicals in the food industry.

 In 1961 the final piece of the current Codex

organisation fell into place when the Council of the Codex Alimentarius Europeaus adopted a resolution to merge its work on food standards with the FAO and the WHO. A year later, the work of the FAOs Additives Committee was blended into this new establishment and the Codex Alimentarius was born.

Codex Alimentarius Mandate

The primary mandate of Codex is to develop

food standards for the protection of the health of consumers and to ensure fair practices in food trade. Also, to coordinate all food standardization work done by international organizations. The standards, guidelines and related texts developed by Codex are intended for voluntary use by governments.

Codex Alimentarius Commission

Consist of 186 Codex Members - 185 Member

Countries and 1 Member Organization (EU)219 Codex Observers 50 IGOs, 153 NGOs, 16 UN.

COMMITTEES & TASK FORCES

Codex committees prepare draft Standards, Codes of

Practice, and Guidelines for adoption by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Codex Alimentarius Standards

Codex standards usually relate to product

characteristics and may deal with all government-regulated characteristics appropriate to the commodity, or only one characteristic.
The Codex Alimentarius includes two types of

standards, those for specific commodities and general standards that are not food specific.

 There are Codex general standards for

food additives and contaminants and toxins in foods that contain both general and commodity-specific provisions. The Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Pre packaged Foods covers all foods in this category. Because standards relate to product characteristics, they can be applied wherever the products are traded.
sampling, including those for contaminants and residues of pesticides and veterinary drugs in foods, are also considered Codex standards.

Codex methods of analysis and

 Codex codes of practice - including codes of

hygienic practice - define the production, processing, manufacturing, transport and storage practices for individual foods or groups of foods that are considered essential to ensure the safety and suitability of food for consumption. For food hygiene, the basic text is the Codex General Principles of Food Hygiene, which introduces the use of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) food safety management system. A code of practice on the control of the use of veterinary drugs provides general guidance in this area.

Codex guidelines fall into two categories: principles that set out policy in certain key areas; and guidelines for the interpretation of these principles or for the interpretation of the provisions of the Codex general standards. In the cases of food additives, contaminants, food hygiene and meat hygiene, the basic principles governing the regulation of these matters are built into the relevant standards and codes of practice.

There are free-standing Codex principles covering: addition of essential nutrients to foods; food import and export inspection and certification; establishment and application of microbiological criteria for foods; conduct of microbiological risk assessment; risk analysis of foods derived from modern biotechnology.

 Interpretative Codex guidelines include those for

food labelling, especially the regulation of claims made on the label. This group includes guidelines for nutrition and health claims; conditions for production, marketing and labelling of organic foods; and foods claimed to be halal. There are several guidelines that interpret the provisions of the Codex Principles for Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification, and guidelines on the conduct of safety assessments of foods from DNA-modified plants and microorganisms.

Commodity Standards
By far the largest number of specific standards in the Codex

Alimentarius. The major commodities included in the Codex are: cereals, pulses (legumes) and derived products including vegetable proteins fats and oils and related products fish and fishery products fresh fruits and vegetables processed and quick-frozen fruits and vegetables fruit juices meat and meat products; soups and broths milk and milk products sugars, cocoa products and chocolate and other miscellaneous products

 Higher levels of protection can be established

but have to be justified on the basis of sound science and the use of appropriate risk assessment techniques. This status has raised the profile of the activities of the Codex. Although this could be seen as a positive step, it has already led to an erosion of the usual practice of reaching agreement by consensus - ballots have recently been taken at meetings of the Commission.

SUMMARY
The Codex Alimentarius is the international

body established by the FAO and the WHO to develop international food standards. Its key role in this was recognised when the World Trade Organisation was set up in 1995. The WTO Agreements accept that the standards developed by Codex should be regarded as providing countries with necessary protection.

REFERENCES
i.s, Singh. (2011). food processing. New Delhi,

Mrinal Goel, Westville Publishing House. Stewart, G. F., & Amerine, M. A. (1982). Introduction to food science and technology. (2nd ed.). New York: Academic Press.