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Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH)
Source : PIB

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Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) has finalised and recommended quality standards for four spices; cloves, oregano, basil, and ginger.

Key Facts

  • Finalised and recommended quality standards for four spices; cloves, oregano, basil, and ginger, during its fifth session.
  • Committee forwarded these four new standards to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) for adoption at final step 8, as full -fledged Codex standards.
  • Committee also took up the following new work items
    • To develop Codex standards for small cardamom and turmeric
    • To develop the first group standard for spices that fall under the class ‘dried fruits and berries
  • This grouping approach, on a large scale enough to meet the demands for spices and herbs.

Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH)

  • CCSCH was formed in 2013.
  • The CCSCH aims to
    • To develop and expand worldwide standards for spices and culinary herbs
    • To consult with other international organisations in the standards development process CCSCH
  • Support of more than a hundred countries with India as the host country and Spices Board as the Secretariat for organising the sessions of the committee.
    • Spices Board under Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
  • Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs has been successful in developing global Codex standards for spices and herbs.
  • CCSCH is the youngest of the Codex Commodity Committees.

In its past four sessions, the committee developed and finalized Codex standards for four spices : dried or dehydrated forms of black/white/green pepper, cumin, thyme, and garlic.

  • In its past four sessions, the committee developed and finalized Codex standards for four spices, viz. dried or dehydrated forms of black/white/green pepper, cumin, thyme, and garlic.

Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC)

  • It is an intergovernmental body established jointly by
    • UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
    • World Health Organisation (WHO)
  • It meets in regular session once a year alternating between Geneva and Rome.
  • It falls within the framework of the Joint Food Standards Programme.
  • It aims to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade.
  • It has 189 Codex Members at resent (188 Member Countries and 1 Member Organization as The European Union).
About Codex Alimentarius
  • Its foundation in 1963.
  • It is an international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice contribute to the safety, quality and fairness of this international food trade.
  • Consumers can trust the safety and quality of the food products they buy and importers can trust that the food they ordered will be in accordance with their specifications.
  • It also removes barriers to trade quality food products.
  • Codex system has evolved in an open, transparent and inclusive way.
  • In general it is intended to guide and promote, elaborate and establish definitions and requirements for foods to assist and facilitate international trade.

Need for Such Committees and monitoring bodies

  • International food trade is a 2000 billion dollar a year industry, with billions of tonnes of food produced, marketed and transported.
  • Veterinary drugs, pesticides, food additives and contaminants are some of the issues that related to food quality.
  • For monitoring the quality internationally such committees are required. 

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