Update of 2018 International Codex Alimentarius Standards

     The International Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) was jointly established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Its main task is to be responsible for the formulation of international food safety standards, guidelines and operational norms to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair food trade.

Since August, CAC standards have been updated frequently. According to statistics of the Food Partnership Network, as of August 20, 2018, 51 standards have been updated and one standard has been newly released, mainly involving general standards such as food additives and labels, as well as specific product standards such as dairy products, aquatic products and their products. Details are as follows:

Food additives and labels

Labelling standards and food additive standards are general food standards, covering all prepackaged foods. This CAC revised the prepackaged foods General Labelling Standards (CODEX STAN 1-1985) and the General Codex Standards for Food Additives (CODEX STAN 192-1995), and simultaneously revised the classification names of food additives, the International Numbering System (CAC/GL 36-1989) and the Food Additive Specifications Catalogue 2018(CAC/MISC 6-2018).

Dairy

　　CAC revised a total of 33 dairy standards this time, involving fermented milk, milk powder, whey and many cheese products, of which up to 20 were revised. The update of dairy standards is shown in Table 1:

Table 1 Update List of CAC Dairy Standards in 2018　

Aquatic products and their products

　　CAC revised 11 standards for aquatic products and their products, mainly involving shrimp, crab, fish sauce and various canned fish. The update is shown in Table 2:

Table 2 Update List of CAC Aquatic Products and Their Products Standards in 2018