KOCHI: The decision of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), the international food standards setting body set up by FAO and WHO, to adopt codex standards (they ensure that food is safe and could be traded) for pepper, cumin and thyme at its just concluded meeting in Geneva was a recognition of India’s efforts to benchmark and harmonise global spices trade, the Spices Board said in a press release here on Thursday. The development could herald the entry of more spices and herbs in the list for universal trading of safe and quality commodities in various countries, it said.
Spices Board Chairman A. Jayathilak, who convened a meeting of the officials and delegates involved with the work and functioning of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) at the Bolgatty Palace here, said that the historic decision of the CAC signalled the fact that spices had been included for the first time as commodities having universal standards.
“This feat was achieved after India’s relentless efforts to set up the CCSCH, which conducted its three sessions in Kochi (2014), Goa (2015) and Chennai (2017) to create a common standardisation process for global spices trade,” he said.
Lauding the efforts of the officials and delegates on this major recognition of India’s initiatives to forge a universal agreement on identifying quality spices in various countries, Dr. Jayathilak said the codex standards for black, white and green pepper, cumin and thyme were adopted by consensus with overwhelming support from the member countries of the CAC.
He countered the arguments of those delegations that were not in favour of the final adoption of these standards by presenting India’s stand before the CAC. In the meeting in Kochi, he briefly traced the history of the CCSCH committee, which was the first new committee to be approved by codex in the past 25 years, and outlined the strategic moves that convinced the member countries to vote for approval of the new committee.