What is Codex Alimentarius?

Codex Alimentarius has the Latin meaning for “food code”. Codex Alimentarius are international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice that your company can use when producing, storing, delivering and transporting food.

Consumers and businesses can trust the safety and quality of food products they buy and importers trust that their food products will meet the specifications of Codex Alimentarius.

What is the role of Codex Alimentarius in food quality control?

The role of Codex Alimentarius in food quality control is to provide international standards to protect the health of consumers and ensure fair practices in the food trade.

Codex Alimentarius provides a set of regulations and guidelines for businesses to follow to be able to prove their food quality control internationally.

This is especially important for companies that are operating in multiple countries across the world, as they are able to reach the one standard for each individual country, plus any extra regulations in that specific country, although the majority of the standards for each country will be met by meeting the Codex standards.

Are Codex standards mandatory?

No, they are not mandatory for businesses to reach.

Obviously, businesses have their own country’s legal requirements that they have to reach to be able to sell or process food in that country. A lot of these legal requirements, match up with the requirements of Codex Alimentarius anyway.

So, regardless of whether you are intentionally trying to meet the Codex standards, or just reaching your country’s legal standards, you will most likely be reaching the Codex standards.