INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES

Communication from the Codex Alimentarius Commission (codex)

The following communication, received on 28 February 2025, is being circulated at the request of the Codex secretariat.

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1  INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE MEETINGS

1.1  27^th Session of the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF27, Omaha, Nebraska, United States of America, 21-25 October 2024)

1.1.  CCRVDF27 agreed to forward several items for final adoption by the 47^th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC47)[1] including:

-_              Maximum residue limits (MRLs) for clopidol (chicken kidney, liver, muscle, and skin/fat) and imidacloprid (finfish fillet (muscle with skin in natural proportions) and/or muscle);

-_              MRLs extrapolated for finfish (lufenuron – fillet, emamectin benzoate – muscle and fillet, all other ruminants (Ivermectin – milk));

-_              Revisions to the Risk Analysis Principles applied by CCRVDF in the Codex Procedural Manual.

1.2.  CCRVDF27 further agreed on the priority list of veterinary drugs and new work on the Guideline for actions to be taken by competent authorities following the detection of a residue of a veterinary drug in a non-target animal commodity associated with unavoidable and unintentional carryover in feed for approval by CAC47. This included a novel veterinary drug, administered to animals to modify the physiological environment of ruminants so as to reduce the production of methane. It is the first such substance to be considered by Codex.

1.2  87^th Session of the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CCEXEC87, Geneva, Switzerland, 18-22 November 2024)

1.3.  CCEXEC87 focused on the critical review of Codex texts proposed for adoption and new work proposals for approval by CAC47, as well as monitoring the progress of standards development in the various technical subsidiary bodies. Furthermore, CCEXEC87 worked on developing the Codex Strategic Plan 2026-2031 and made a recommendation for adoption by CAC47 and considered working modalities for Codex, which will be discussed at future sessions.

1.3  47^th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC47, Geneva, Switzerland, 25‑30 November 2024)

1.4.  CAC47 adopted almost 900 new and revised Codex standards (including numerical standards), guidelines and codes of practice, including:

1.3.1  Standards and related texts of relevance to the SPS Committee

-_              New maximum levels (MLs) for lead in various spices i.e.:

o_      dried aril;

o_      dried floral parts;

o_      dried fruit and berries;

o_      dried paprika and sumac;

o_      dried Sichuan pepper and Star anise;

o_      dried rhizomes, and roots;

o_      dried seeds;

o_      dried celery seeds;

-_              New MLs for lead and cadmium in quinoa;

-_              257 new or revised MRLs for different combinations of pesticide/commodity(ies) (food and feed);

-_              8 new MRLs for different combinations of veterinary drugs and animal tissues;

-_              Specifications for the identity and purity of food additives, including five food additives, two groups of flavouring agents, and eight flavouring agents;

-_              566 new or revised MLs for food additives.

1.3.2  Codes of practice

-_              Code of practice for the prevention and reduction of ciguatera poisoning;

-_              Amendments/revisions to the Code of practice for the storage and transport of edible fats and oils in bulk (CXC 36-1987).

1.3.3  Guidelines

-_              Annex II on Fresh leafy vegetables and Annex IV on Sprouts of the Guidelines for the control of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in raw beef, fresh leafy vegetables, raw milk, and raw milk cheeses, and sprouts (CXG 99-2023);

-_              Annex III on Milk and milk products of the Guidelines for the safe use and reuse of water in food production and processing (CXG 100-2023);

-_              Revision to the Class Names and the International Numbering System for food additives (CXG 36-1989);

-_              Guidelines for food hygiene control measures in traditional markets for food.

1.3.4  New work

1.5.  CAC47 approved new works, which includes revision of six existing texts, and endorsement of three priority lists of compounds (food additives and residues of veterinary drugs and pesticides) for assessment by FAO and WHO scientific bodies. Areas of new work include:

-_              MLs for food additives for inclusion in the General standard for food additives (CXS 192‑1995);

-_              MRLs for veterinary drugs for inclusion in the Database for MRLs for veterinary drugs in foods;

-_              MRLs for pesticides for inclusion in the Database for MRLs for pesticides in food and feed;

-_              Code of practice for the prevention and reduction of cadmium contamination in foods.

1.6.  Working documents, including the report of the above-mentioned Codex sessions, are available on the respective pages on the Codex webpage: CCRVDF27, CCEXEC87, and CAC47.

2  FORTHCOMING CODEX MEETINGS OF SPS RELEVANCE

2.1.  The following Codex meetings relevant to the SPS Committee will be meeting as of February 2025:

-_              55^th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA55, Seoul, Republic of Korea, 24–28 March 2025)

-_              56^th Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR56, Santiago, Chile, 19‑24 May 2025)

-_              34^th Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles (CCGP34, Lille, France, 2‑6 June 2025)

-_              18^th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF18, Bangkok, Thailand, 23–27 June 2025)

2.2.  Regular updates on the status of the work of these Committees are published on their dedicated web pages: CCFA55, CCPR56, CCGP34, and CCCF18.

2.3.  For specific questions on the status of work in Codex committees of interest to SPS delegates, please check the dedicated webpages or email codex@fao.org.

3  GENERAL

3.1.  In collaboration with host country's secretariats, the Codex secretariat is continuing to convene working group meetings and webinars in advance of Codex subsidiary sessions to support delegations' preparations and facilitate discussions and consensus-building. Further information is available on the Committee webpages and the Codex calendar.

3.1  Codex Strategic Plan

3.2.  CAC47 adopted the Codex Strategic Plan 2026-2031. While continuing to highlight the importance of responding to members' needs, use of Codex texts and efficient work practices the new strategic plan also aim includes Strengthening relationships with relevant international organizations, promoting a coordinated approach to address global challenges.

3.3.  A monitoring framework will be submitted to CAC48 (2025) for approval.

3.4.  An interim report on the implementation of the Codex Strategic Plan 2020-2025 was also considered with a final implementation report to be delivered at CAC49 (2026).

3.2  Monitoring the use and impact of Codex texts

3.5.  In 2022, at CCEXEC82, Codex members endorsed the secretariat's proposed approach for building a mechanism to monitor the use and impact of Codex texts, including an annual survey, case studies, and collaboration with WTO. The results of the 2022 and 2023 surveys on the use and impact of Codex texts were published[2] and include recommendations to the Codex secretariat, Codex members, FAO, and WHO. The 2024 survey was submitted to Codex members in September 2024, and results will be published in 2025. In addition, a case study on the use and impact of the Code of Practice on the prevention and reduction of mycotoxin contamination in cereals (CXC 51‑2003) in Brazil was implemented. The results of the case study will be published in 2025.

3.6.  Collaboration among the three sisters, Codex, IPPC and WOAH, under the SPS Agreement has been progressing. A joint publication on the efforts made on how and why each of the three sisters monitors the use and impact of their standards and what challenges they face in doing so was published in 2024.[3] This paper considers the challenges and benefits of monitoring the use and impact of their texts and highlights some of the successes to date. Collaboration among the three sisters is continuing, through regular meetings and exchange of information, methodologies and lessons-learned, with a view to identify areas of joint work.

3.7.  In addition, the three sisters met with the SPS and TBT Secretariats at WTO headquarters in December 2024 to continue discussions on the use of the WTO databases and the ePing SPS&TBT Platform as potential data sources that can contribute to the monitoring of the use and impact of international standards. It was noted that the three sisters may be observers in the proposed working group on transparency, which is recommended for establishment under the Sixth Review of the Operation and Implementation of the SPS Agreement, noting the link to information sharing on the use of international standards.

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