June 2005

U.S. Codex agenda to be subject of public meeting

The U.S. position on Codex will be the subject of a public meeting on June 9 sponsored by the Office of the Undersecretary for Food Safety.

The objective of the meeting is to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions that will be discussed at the 28th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) to be held in Rome, Italy, July 4–9, 2005. Interested parties will have the opportunity to obtain background information and to address items on the agenda, which is available at www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp.

Codex was established in 1962 by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Codex is the major international organization for encouraging fair international trade in food and protecting the health and economic interests of consumers. Through adoption of food standards, codes of practice, and other guidelines developed by its committees, and by promoting their adoption and implementation by governments, Codex seeks to ensure that the world’s food supply is sound, wholesome, free from adulteration, and correctly labeled.

In the United States, USDA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manage and carry out U.S. Codex activities.

The Codex meeting has created controversy among various groups involved with nutritional supplements. (See “Opinions differ on value or harm of Codex guidelines.”

Details on the meeting’s agenda and location are available at www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2005_Notices_Index/.

Source: United States Department of Agriculture, www.usda.gov; Chiropractic Economics Newsflash, www.chiroeco.com/news/2005/April/Codex.php.

Industry News from:
Chiropractic News from: