Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH)
Source : PIB
GS II : Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate
Why in News?
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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