Codex Alimentarius: A briefing on the International Food Safety Body and its Dynamics

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Codex Alimentarius A briefing on the
International Food Safety Body and its Dynamics

• Peter Sousa Hoejskov
• Food Quality and Safety Officer
• FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

Complying with Market Requirements on Food Safety
and Product Quality Second Regional Training
Workshop Linking Farmers to Markets 19-23
January 2009, Siem Reap, Cambodia
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Outline

• Food quality and safety standards
• Introduction to Codex
• Objectives of Codex
• Codex strategic plans and goals
• Codex organisational structure
• The process of developing Codex standards
• Codex in relation to the WTO Agreements
• The impact of private standards on Codex
• Conclusions

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Importance of food safety standards

• Vital component of food safety control systems
  providing the basis for inspection, testing and
  certification activities
• Provide guidance to industry, consumers,
  government and other players in the food supply
  chain for determining the safety of their
  products
• Provide a general view of requirements for
  international trade in food

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About Codex Alimentarius

• CODEX ALIMENTARIUS is a latin term for food code
• The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of food
  standards, guidelines and codes of practice
  developed by the Codex Alimentarius Commission

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Codex Alimentarius Commission

• Parent organizations
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
  Nations (FAO)
• World Health Organization (WHO)
• Membership
• 176 member countries and 1 member organisation
  (EU)
• Over 200 observers from UN and other
  intergovernmental and non-governmental
  organisations (Industry, consumer and academia)

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Codex Objectives (1)

• To protect the health of consumers,
• To ensure fair practices in the food trade,
• To coordinate all work regarding food standards

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Codex Objectives (2)

• To determinate the priorities for global food
  safety
• To initiate the preparation of standards
• To publish the standards
• Codex plays a prominent role in the development
  of international standards and in bringing about
  harmonization

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Codex strategic vision statement

• The CAC envisages a world afforded the highest
  attainable levels of consumer protection
  including food safety and quality. To this end,
  the Commission will develop internationally
  agreed standards and related texts for use in
  domestic regulation and international trade in
  food that are based on scientific principles and
  fulfill the objectives of consumer health
  protection and fair practices in food trade

Source Codex Alimentarius Commission Strategic
Plan 2008-2013
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Codex strategic goals 2008-2013

• Promoting sound regulatory frameworks
• Promoting widest and consistent application of
  scientific principles and risk analysis
• Strengthening Codex work-management capabilities
• Promoting cooperation between Codex and relevant
  international organizations
• Promoting maximum and effective participation of
  members

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Codex strategic plan for CCASIA 2009-2014 (1)

• To develop and strengthen national food
  regulatory system and Codex Contact Point and/or
  National Codex Committee
• To strengthen communication and coordination
  amongst the CCASIA members, with other regions
  and Codex Secretariat as well as other relevant
  organizations
• To achieve maximum and effective participation of
  member countries in the activities of CCASIA,
  Codex Alimentarius Commission and its subsidiary
  bodies

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Codex strategic plan for CCASIA 2009-2014 (2)

• To strengthen scientific and technical capacities
  of member countries in the region
• To promote use of Codex standards and related
  texts as a basis for national legislation
• To develop and/or review Codex standards and
  related texts taking into account regional
  interests

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Codex Alimentarius Commission structure and
management

• The Executive Committee,
• The 6 Regional Coordinating
• Committees
• The Secretariat of the
• Commission

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Subsidiary bodies of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission

• Codex Committees
• Codex committees for general principles
• Committees for special types of foodstuff
  products
• Ad-hoc Intergovernmental Special Work Groups
• Biotechnology
• Antimicrobial resistance
• Processing and Handling of Quick Frozen Foods

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Codex organizational chart
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Codex standards

• Focus
• Standards for products, processes and systems for
  ensuring food safety
• Coverage
• Foods widely traded
• Applicability
• Voluntary but the WTO encourages countries to
  adopt Codex standards

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Food safety areas of concern (1)

• Unallowed chemicals / proper use of allowed
  chemicals
• Environmental /or processing contaminants
• Microbial toxins
• Residues of pesticides veterinary drags
• Use of food additives
• Microbial contaminations
• Foodborne pathogens
• Development of antimicrobial resistance

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Food safety areas of concern (2)

• Best practice
• Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
• Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP)
• Good Hygiene Practices (GHP)
• HACCP
• Prevention and control of contaminants
• New technologies
• Biotechnology, genetically engineered foods, food
  irradiation, nanotechnology
• Other
• Import / export certification systems
• Methods of analysis and sampling
• Labeling

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Codex process for standards development (1)

• A country proposes development of a new standard
  in a committee
• New work is being approved by the CAC
• Proponent of new work leads the effort to get the
  standard adopted
• Scientific data including risk assessment
  information provided by FAO/WHO expert bodies and
  others is being collected

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Codex process for standards development (2)

• Proposed draft standards are submitted to members
  of the Committee and international organizations
  for comments and the standards is amended
  accordingly
• The standard preparation goes through a process
  of 8 steps before the standard can be adopted as
  a Codex standard
• A Codex committee, as the risk manager, adopts
  the standard

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Codex Alimentarius Commission Achievements so
far...

• Products
• Over 240 food standards
• 40 hygienic and technological practice codes
• 700 food additives and contaminants evaluated
• 50 veterinary drugs evaluated
• 3,200 maximum pesticide residue limits
• More than 1,000 maximum limits for food additives
  and contaminants

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Codex in relation to the WTO Agreements

• The SPS Agreement calls on countries to harmonize
  their national standards with international
  standards, guidelines or recommendations
• Codex Standards are defined as international
  standards, guidelines or recommendations for
  food safety
• Codex standards are recognized bythe World Trade
  Organisation (WTO) as presumptively valid for
  use in international trade and the TBT Agreement
  calls on countries to use relevant international
  standards when they exist

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... Regulating compliance with food safety
standards

• Compliance with food safety standards is the role
  of farmers and other players in the food supply
  chain
• Food safety attributes, unlike food quality, are
  not immediately visible to the consumers
• Thus compliance with food safety requirements has
  to be monitored and regulated by governments

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International food safety regulations and
standards - Managing the cost of compliance

• The cost of compliance with food safety measures
  should fit within the overall framework of
  managing for product competitiveness
• Food safety standards should adequately protect
  consumer health and be reasonably feasible for
  farmers and industry to implement
• Standards should not restrict innovation and
  market access
• Technologies should be provided to encourage
  farmers and industry to comply

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The Codex trust fund and FAO capacity building
programmes

• Provision of funding for developing countries to
  attend Codex meetings
• Provision of training programmes for
  understanding Codex procedures
• Latest training was the Codex Training Course
  for Asia and the Pacific which was held from 13
  to 15 November 2008 prior to the CCAsia 2009

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Other FAO capacity building activities in Asia in
support of Codex, ex

• Workshop on Codex information sources, Bangkok
  Dec. 2006
• Basic awareness course on microbiological risk
  assessment, Jakarta Nov. 2006
• FAO/WHO Regional Workshop on HACCP in small and
  less developed food business, Jakarta Aug. 2008

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Private food quality and safety standards in
relation to Codex

• Implemented by retailers and food industry
• Flexible standards that are negotiated between
  buyers and sellers
• Dynamic standards that can rapidly be changed on
  the basis of demand
• Tend to be more stringent, more rigorously
  enforced and wider in scope than Codex standards

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Drivers for implementation of private food
quality and safety standards

• Disharmony in public standards and SPS measures
  across countries
• The demand for standards has out-paced the supply
  of public standards
• Advancement in food safety science and growing
  public awareness of health safety issues
• Following food scares, consumers expect
  retailers, through their purchasing practices, to
  supplement Government regulations for ensuring
  food safety
• Consumers and retailers are demanding more
  transparency, traceability and quality assurance
  in the food chain

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General challenges of private food safety
standards

• Inconsistency among various sets of standards
• Multiple reporting and documenting systems
• Market requirements differ from Government work
  on standard setting
• Private standards undermine international fora
  for standard setting (Risk of establishing
  parallel standard systems)
• Not necessarily any price incentive of compliance
  with private standards

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FAO publication
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Conclusions (1)

• All countries have an interest in ensuring that
  Codex standards protect human health and achieve
  this without hindering trade and economic
  development
• External assistance by organisations and an
  internal commitment by countries to provide the
  needs for effective participation in Codex are
  both essential to achieve this

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Conclusions (2)

• One of the main challenges for Codex is the rapid
  development and implementation of private
  standards and requirements
• Goodwill based on an understanding that
  development of relevant standards is a shared
  responsibility, should enable Codex to keep
  moving forward

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THANK YOU FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION peter.hoejskov_at_
fao.org www.fao.org or www.fao.org/world/regional
/rap