It is difficult to imagine a world without the Codex Alimentarius. It has been said that if Codex did not exist, somebody would have to invent it. Consumer demand, recognition by WTO, the growing attendance at Codex meetings and the greater involvement of developing countries all point to a long and active life for the Commission.
Codex Alimentarius on the Internet:
www.codexalimentarius.net
FAO / 16066 / G. BIZZARRI
Codex activities of the future will differ considerably from what they have been until now. Scientific developments in fields relating to food, changing attitudes of consumers, new approaches to food control, changing perceptions of government and food industry responsibilities and changing food quality and safety concepts will present the Commission with new challenges and, conceivably, the need for new standards and new types of standards.
The consumer protection and food safety elements of the Codex Alimentarius, which are the domain of the “horizontal committees”, have become very important for consumers and trading partners, while the compositional or “recipe” elements of individual commodity standards do not attract as much interest as before. At present, interest in the quality aspects of Codex standards remains, although the importance attributed to such issues in the future will depend on community attitudes and demands.
The application of biotechnology to food processing and production of raw food materials is currently under scrutiny by the Commission, which is continually examining new concepts and systems associated with food safety and the protection of consumers against health hazards. These topical matters provide some insight into the direction that the Commission’s activities are likely to take in the future.
The Codex system is changing, too. We can expect to see major changes in the traditional committee structure with much more involvement of developing countries as host countries of newly designed Codex committees and task forces. This is an exciting development.
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Whatever happens, it would be fair to claim that the Codex Alimentarius’ contribution to the betterment of humankind is one of the finer and more extraordinary achievements of the twentieth century - and is set to continue into the twenty-.first.
