A Codex committee has made progress on guidelines for preventing and controlling food fraud.
The draft guidelines have been sent for adoption to the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which will meet in Switzerland in November.
The United States chaired the electronic working group. It will also lead a group to address outstanding issues and comments, particularly as some concerns have been raised about a lack of clarity on the scope of the guidelines.
Australia hosted the final session of the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) in Cairns, Queensland, earlier this month. Food safety regulators from 60 countries and international organizations met to discuss food standards.
CCFICS is a committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the food standard-setting body of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Potential new work
Progress has been made on guidance on food control equivalence and traceability within national food control systems.
Four new working proposals have also been proposed. These include guidelines on appeal mechanisms resulting from refusal of imported food, harmonizing the use of the food business list for market access, guidelines on the presentation of health declarations on export certificates to better enable the transition to paperless trade, and principles to guide digitization. of national food control systems. These must be approved at the November meeting of the Codex.
In recent years, the committee has been working on guidelines for remote audits and inspections, paperless trading (eCert) and the use of voluntary third-party assurance. The next session will take place in October 2026.
Tina Hutchison, Assistant Secretary for Agricultural Trade and Regulation, said: “The international harmonization of food safety approaches within countries’ national food control systems and their import and export inspection and certification systems will help facilitate trade, reduce regulatory costs and protect people’s health. protect. consumers.”
Time for reflection
Meanwhile, the United States, the European Union, France and Germany hosted an event on international food safety standards in September.
Speakers represented European and American risk assessors, risk managers, the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its parent organizations.
Alexis Taylor, Under Secretary of Commerce and Foreign Agricultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), spoke about the contributions of scientific and regulatory experts representing the United States in the Codex.
“The expertise provides the scientific basis for Codex’s value and integrity as the premier international food standard-setting body,” she said.
Although the US and EU food safety systems differ in structure and regulatory approach, both sides emphasized their commitment to scientific accuracy and effectiveness of consumer protection measures.
In recent years, the US-EU partnership has helped address food safety and trade challenges, especially as concerns about public health issues and sustainable food systems grow. Their work has led to the creation of several important standards and guidelines in the areas of food hygiene, food and feed contamination, and food-borne antimicrobial resistance, which have become benchmarks for countries around the world.
“Sixty years of Codex Alimentarius existence and twenty years of Codex EU membership give reason to celebrate past achievements, review and reflect on current and future challenges,” said Sandra Gallina, Director- General of DG SANTE at the European Commission.
(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)