Context

• Recently the 7th session of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) was held in Kochi.

Key Points

• 109 delegates from 31 countries participated in the session.
• In this session, quality standards for five spices, small cardamom, turmeric, juniper berry, Jamaica pepper (allspice) and star anise were finalised.
• The Codex Committee has forwarded the five standards to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), recommending them for adoption as full Codex standards in a final phase of eight.
• The 7th session saw the participation of a large number of Latin American countries for the first time.

Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs

• It is noteworthy that the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) was established in 2013 as one of the Commodity Committees under the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC).
• India is the host of this session and Spices Board India is acting as the Secretariat of this committee.

Codex Standard

• General Standards, Guidelines and Codes of Practice – These topics generally relate to sanitary practices, labelling, contaminants, additives, inspection and certification, nutrition and residues of veterinary drugs and pesticides.
• Commodity standards – Codex commodity standards refer to a specific product.
• Regional Standards – Standards developed by the respective regional coordination committees, applicable to the respective regions.

SPS agreement

• This agreement  came into force on January 1, 1995 with the establishment of the World Trade Organization.
• The SPS Agreement deals with the application of food safety and animal and plant health rules.

IMPORTANT FACTS FOR EXAM

Codex Alimentarius Commission

• It is an international food standards body.
• Purpose – To protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in the food trade.
• Established – May 1963 (Jointly by FAO and WHO)
• Members-188 members and 1 member organisation (European Union)
• India became a member of Codex Alimentarius in 1964.