FAO announces the start of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs

The Culinary herbs and spice industry has its forum in Codex

Acting on a decision of the Codex Alimentarius Commission at its last session in July 2013, India is hosting this week the first session of the newly created Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) in Kochi (11-14 February 2014).

Agenda and information on the first session of CCSCH

This committee will provide increased leadership of Codex in harmonizing quality standards for spices and culinary herbs worldwide, supporting this thriving sector to achieve higher levels of consumer confidence and to attain more markets.

Codex already provides great leadership in guiding the spices sector through specific food safety measures and requirements that are also applicable to spices and culinary herbs. More will be accomplished, now that this committee is up and running with an ambitious agenda. Given that major producers and exporters of spices and culinary herbs tend to be from developing countries disseminated in various regions in the world, there is no doubt that the outputs of this committee’s work will further contribute to the economic well-being of producers and farmers across the world.

Congratulations to the Government of India for hosting and leading this important work under the auspices of the FAO / WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission.