Sep 17, 2015

Spices committee broadens scope of Codex in setting standards: FSSAI chief

Mumbai
The Codex Committee for Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH), under the joint aegis of WHO and FAO of the United Nations, which India is hosting, has broadened the scope of the global food safety standard setting body Codex Alimentarius Commission, according to Ashish Bahuguna, chairperson, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. He made these observations while inaugurating the second session of the CCSCH at Canacona in Goa recently.
Bahuguna observed that the importance of CCSCH is discernible from the increasing number of new work proposals coming in from spices producing and consuming countries for setting quality standards. FSSAI, which is the national Codex point in India, is working in close liaison with the Spices Board India, the host organisation of CCSCH, in working towards setting standards.
Welcoming delegates from nearly 40 countries, Dr A Jayathilak, chairman, Spices Board India, said that India had taken up the task of standard setting as a challenge. “There has been a renewed surge in India in getting establishments and products certified under FSSAI which is the link to the international Codex standards. This will pave way for harmonisation of national and international standards. Exports of Indian spices could buck the recessionary trends and have been rising for the past many years owing to the very stringent quality control mechanism the board had established for exports,” he stated.
The session was attended by delegates from the US, Canada, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Mexico, Argentina, Cameroon, Nigeria, Morocco, Libya, Algiers, Egypt, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Tanzania, Grenada, Iran, Algeria, the European Union, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and China. Ten new work proposals were mooted for consideration which include dry ginger, dry garlic, dry chillies, nutmeg, saffron, coriander, basil, cloves besides the already proposed standards for cumin, black, white and green pepper, thyme and oregano.
Dr M R Sudarshan, the chair of the CCSCH, struck a note of confidence in the participation of the member countries in the committee proceedings. Dr P S Sreekantan Thampi, organising secretary, CCSCH, proposed vote of thanks.

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