The 48th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling has concluded in Quebec City, Canada. In his closing remarks Chairperson Parthi Muthukumarasamy thanked delegates for “the great work for the last 4 or 5 days. “We had an additional day of plenary at CCFL48,” he said, “thanks for the great work and thanks to everyone for staying an additional day in order for us to make progress on a number of texts, which we have done, through the collaboration [...]

The 48th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) has commenced in Quebec City, Canada, with first-time Chairperson Dr Parthi Muthukumarasamy presiding. Opening remarks were offered bilingually by Deputy Minister, Health Canada Greg Orencsak in a video message. With his “warm welcome to all delegates and observers from around the world”, the Deputy Minister, made clear that Canada “places a high importance on the work done by Codex.” He continued, “We believe that the work of Codex is imperative [...]

In this interview with the Codex Secretariat, the new Chairperson of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL), Dr Parthi Muthukumarasamy, talks about his background, his experience with Codex and the agenda of the 48th session of CCFL which gets underway in Quebec City, Canada on 27 October 2024. Parthi, thanks for your time. This is going to be the first time for you to chair CCFL. For those who don’t know you, could you please introduce yourself? First of all, let me [...]

Under the theme “My health, my right”, this year’s World Health Day is championing “the right of everyone, everywhere to have access to quality health services, education, and information.” From a Codex perspective, the theme touches on many aspects of food standards setting work. The Codex Alimentarius itself is an open access resource of all the science-based information developed into standards, guidelines and codes of practice that support countries to ensure food produced both domestically and for export is safe [...]

Cara Tannenbaum, Departmental Science Advisor to Health Canada, welcomed delegates to the 47th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) taking place from 15-19 May 2023 in Gatineau, Ottawa in Canada. “Codex has served the global community well, allowing us to leverage the best possible science and evidence to support international standard setting,” she said, underling how countries consider the international labelling standards developed by the committee as they develop their own food labelling regulations and policies for [...]

The 46th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL46), hosted virtually by Canada from Ottawa, concluded on 7 October 2021 sending a new standard for the labelling of non-retail containers and guidelines for front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FOPNL) to the Codex Alimentarius Commission for adoption in November. Chairperson, Kathy Twardek (pictured centre above), congratulating participants on the important progress made during the meeting said “it's stunning, really, I am thrilled. As a result of a lot of collaboration and flexibility, [...]

Over 400 delegates gathered online for the opening session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) which runs from 27 September to 7 October 2021, hosted, since its inception in 1965, by Canada. Harpreet Kochhar, Associate Deputy Minister of Health Canada, welcomed delegates and described Canada’s relationship with the committee as one of the country’s longest standing and most significant international engagements in food and nutrition. “Making decisions and choices about food is an important aspect of daily life. International labelling [...]

The 46th session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL46), hosted by Canada, will get underway virtually on 27 September and conclude on 7 October 2021. Topics on the agenda include: labelling of non-retail containers, front of pack nutrition labelling, allergen labelling and guidance on e-commerce. CCFL46 was postponed from 2020 to 2021 due to the pandemic which allowed for extra time to further develop the agenda items.  Ahead of the meeting, Chairperson Kathy Twardek, Canada said: “A great deal [...]

This session of CCNFSDU will look at nutrient reference values (NRVs) for older infants and young children. NRVs do not appear on food labels but they are used in nutrition labelling to show the contribution to healthy nutrient intake of the nutrients in a portion of food. This work follows on work at CCNFSDU which led over several years to the development of Codex NRVs for the essential nutrients: protein, vitamins and minerals in the Codex Guidelines for Nutrition Labelling. The [...]

Thursday 23 November - Geneva I look forward to continuing to work together and strengthening the partnership between our organizations WTO Director-General Ambassador Roberto Azevêdo.   The Chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), Guilherme Costa, met the World Trade Organization (WTO) Director General, Ambassador Roberto Azevêdo, in Geneva. Mr Costa is currently in Geneva attending a series of meetings. During the meeting with Ambassador Azevêdo, the Codex Chair informed him about the work which is being developed by the Codex Chairs and Vice-Chairs and [...]