THE USER'S MANUAL ON CODEX - Department of Biotechnology

MODULE 2
THE USER’S MANUAL ON CODEX
A Contemporary Approach to Food Quality and Safety Standards
National Food Control
Systems and Codex
INTRODUCTION
The access to safe, reliable and nutritious food supplies is a basic need for all people. Governments
have an obligation to ensure this need is met. Producing safe and good quality food is also a prerequisite
to the successful and sustainable development of national agricultural resources and of domestic and
international food trade.
Food quality and safety systems have been part of the basic fabric of societies for a very long time.
Today, some 165 countries comprise the Codex Alimentarius Commission that has over 40 years
consistently provided guidance to governments on food quality and safety standards and continues to
meet the contemporary challenges in food safety and quality. Since the establishment of the World
Trade Organization in 1994, there has been an increased awareness of the need to achieve international
harmonization of the standards used in food quality and safety. Thus Codex has emerged as the preeminent
organization in this field. Governments are encouraged to utilize Codex to the greatest extent
possible in the design and development of food quality and safety systems in order to facilitate international
harmonization of the standards applied both domestically and in trade.
Consumer protection measures continue to evolve and expand to provide a greater degree of protection
and to deal with the increased levels of sophistication in the problems associated with food quality,
safety and trade practice. With mass production technology to meet the needs of ever-increasing urban
populations, greater movement of people across countries, more complex food safety issues and
decreasing government budgets, it is evident that more efficient means are needed to avoid sacrificing
either the control or protection of consumers and trade.
Food control plays an important role in assuring a high quality, safe and nutritious food supply for the
public, for their good health and for the economic benefits derived from trade in safe and quality food.
The FAO Conference on International Food Trade Beyond 2000: Science-based Decisions, Harmonization,
Equivalence and Mutual Recognition, held in Melbourne, Australia, in October 1999 (the Melbourne
Conference), noted in its recommendations that there was an urgent need for developing countries to
become aware of the economic and health benefits of food control systems at the highest political and
policy levels in the country. The Conference also called upon the CAC when elaborating and deciding
upon Codex standards and any related texts to take into consideration the special needs of developing
countries, including infrastructure, resources, technical and legal capabilities, while also recognizing
that food safety standards cannot be compromised.
1. IMPORTANCE OF FOOD CONTROL
The importance of food control need not be overemphasized. But recent events are sufficiently alarming
to have created some concerns about the effectiveness of the food control systems. Every year, nearly
800 million people all over the world suffer from widespread malnutrition, most of them in developing
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