Codex committee to draft standards for a variety of spices

The fourth session of the codex committee on spices and culinary herbs (CCSCH) that got underway in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday will draft standards for oregano, basil, ginger, garlic, chilli pepper and paprika, nutmeg, saffron and cloves. They are in the form of reports of electronic working groups established by the previous session held at Chennai in February 2017. In this fourth session of the codex committee, more than 100 delegates from 30 countries are participating.

Codex committee to draft standards for a variety of spices

The agenda is two new work proposals; one is to draft standards for turmeric and small cardamom, and second is to develop harmonized standards for global trade for these two high-demand spices.

Kerala governor P Sathasivam inaugurated the fourth session of the codex committee on spices and culinary herbs established under Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). On this occasion, he said spice cultivators should be encouraged to think globally and make use of the latest farming technologies. He said Indian farmers should be provided with better infrastructure like better storage facilities so that they could stay up-to-date with their counterparts from other countries.

The governor also said, “Ensuring transparency and equality in fixing global quality standards for spices and herbs can strengthen the global food safeguard without compromising on safety.” He added, “Kerala has suffered a production loss of more than 25,000 tons of spices valued at Rs1,254 crore in recent floods. This session’s plan to deliberate draft standards for cardamom and turmeric is truly laudable since they are among the crops that dominate the spices cultivation in Kerala.”

Rita Teaotia, the chairperson, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), said in the previous three sessions, the CCSCH succeeded in getting the approval of the CAC for three standards; black, white and green pepper; cumin and thyme.