| Codex Alimentarius |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT CODEX ALIMENTARIUS | |
| food safety | |
| food science | |
| international law | |
| pharmaceuticals policy | |
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The Codex Alimentarius (Latin = “food law” or “food code”) is controversial project organized to promote international Standardization of Food Safety and for the stated purpose of Consumer protection. Officially, it is maintained by the Codex Alimentarius Commission , a body established jointly by the Food And Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), and the World Health Organization (WHO) in the years 1961 - 1962 to protect the health of Consumer s and ensure fair practices in the international food trade. The Codex Alimentarius is recognized by the World Trade Organization as an international Reference Point for the resolution of Dispute s concerning Food Safety and Consumer Protection . Critics contend the project's official mission is not in alignment with the reality of the Agenda behind the project. There are a number of organizations who assert the Codex Alimentarius is a Legal Cover for special-interest groups to further their economic agendas. Such 'health freedom' groups, largely aligned with Alternative Medicine practitioners, which have suggested implementation of Codex Alimentarius recommendations would result in great harm to consumers, due to its plans to place unscientifically based restrictions on nutritional intake and collateral removal of natural health products (NHPs) from the free market. When and if implemented, additional restrictions on other natural health treatments would result. SCOPE The Codex Alimentarius officially covers all Food s, whether processed, semi-processed or raw, but far more attention has been given to foods that are marketed directly to consumers. In addition to standards for specific foods, the Codex Alimentarius contains general standards covering matters such as Food Label ing, food Hygiene , Food Additives and Pesticide residues, and procedures for assessing the safety of foods derived from modern Biotechnology . It also contains guidelines for the management of official (i.e., governmental) Import and Export inspection and certification systems for foods. The Codex Alimentarius is published in Arabic , Chinese , English , French and Spanish . Not all texts are available in all languages. General texts
Specific standards
AUTHORITY The 28th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission was held July 4 - July 9 , 2005 . Among the many issues discussed were the "Draft Guidelines for Vitamin and Mineral Supplements." This text has been the subject of considerable controversy, in part because many member countries regulate these substances as therapeutic goods or Pharmaceutical s and not as foods (if they were not foods, they would be excluded from the Codex Alimentarius). The text does not seek to ban supplements, but to subject them to labelling and composition requirements. The draft has attracted considerable negative attention from some sectors because of the potential for bans on the use of Vitamin s as Nutritional Supplement s (see information flyer: [http://bumbuys.com/download/codex.pdf 14 pages on the Codex Alimentirius (pdf)]). For more information on the governmental, consumer and industry positions on this text, please refer to the Codex website CodexAlimentarius.net . The will require the signers to adopt the European Codex Alimentarius, which will override the 1994 Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act ( DSHEA ), making vitamin supplements prescription items. SOURCE
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