Codex Alimentarius

The Codex Alimentarius (Latin for book of food) collects international standards, practices, processes, guidelines, and recommendations related to food, food production, and food safety. In 1963, the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization—two United Nations agencies—established the Codex Alimentarius Commission with the goal of establishing a set of standards and practices for the international food commodities trade that would protect consumers. The World Trade Organization has since recognized the Codex as the relevant authoritative work when resolving international disputes pertaining to food safety and consumer health.

The Codex is inspired in name and aim by the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus (CAA), a collection of standards and product descriptions pertaining to food used by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and later Austria. Work on the CAA began in 1891, with portions of [Page 75]it circulating informally in the next two decades until it was collected in three volumes and published between 1910 and 1917. Although the CAA was produced principally by universities and the food industry itself, and primarily established the identity and proper treatment of various foods, it was relied on by the court system as an authoritative reference. In 1975, it was finally formally incorporated into the body of Austrian law, by which time its spiritual descendent, the Codex Alimentarius, had been formulated. During the early years of the European Economic Community, leading up to the European Union, the idea of a pan-European Codex Alimentarius had been explored and eventually helped lead to the UN-sponsored Codex.

The Codex is published in English, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic and is updated periodically to keep up with changes in the world and new safety-related information. Officially, it is meant to cover all foods, but in the course of its development it has come to focus principally on food that is sold to the consumer (flour and bread and dry pasta, for instance, rather than unprocessed wheat).

Specific standards and practices documents are produced for meat products (including processed or cured meats and the handling of frozen meat products); fish and other seafood products; milk and dairy products; vegetables, fruits, fruit juices, and processed products composed thereof; cereals and dried legumes and products derived therefrom; fats and products derived therefrom; and special miscellaneous products that do not fit a broad category but require special mention (such as bottled water; sugar, honey, and other sweeteners; chocolate—an important food commodity; baby food; and baby formula).

Furthermore, in addition to those “vertical” topics, documents cover “horizontal” topics that are not limited to one type of food: food labeling (including nutrition information, health benefit claims, ingredients, and the language used in ingredients, such as what is meant by “artificial coloring” or “natural flavors”), food additives (including not only flavorings and food coloring but also acidity regulators, anticaking agents, antifoaming agents, antioxidants, bulking agents, emulsifiers, humectants, stabilizers, thickeners, and, of course, preservatives), the prevention of and appropriate response to food contaminants (including specific guidelines for radionuclides, aflatoxins, and mycotoxins), maximum residue limits for pesticides, food hygiene (specific practices designed to limit the risk in the handling, preparation, and packaging of food), and biotechnology-derived foods such as DNA-modified crops.

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