This guide is being developed by the Codex Alimentatius Committee on Food Import Inspection and Food Export Certification Systems (CCFICS). The draft is in 8 sections: (Preamble; Scope/Purpose; Definitions; Types of food fraud; Principles; Roles and Responsibilities of Competent Authorities and Food Business Operators; Relevant Activities for Competent Authorities; and Cooperation, Collaboration, and exchange of Information Between Competent Authorities). It includes working definitions of food fraud, food integrity and food authenticity, noting that they are not yet approved.
The document has been drafted by an Electronic Working Group (EWG), led by the US, with China, EU, Iran, Panama, and the UK. Selvarani Elahi, FAN's Executive Director, was UK co-chair for the ealier drafts and FAN have also fed into Codex discussions on fraud definitions. The draft was brought back to the 27th meeting of CCFICS, held in Cairns, Australia, in September. It is now ready to go to the next Codex plenary meeting on 25th November, before returning to another EWG for resulting edits then back to the 28th meeting of CCFICS next year.
The 27th CCFICS also discussed other standards and guidelines relevant to food fraud prevention, including modernising the Codex principles on traceability and product tracing (CXG60), digitisation of national food control systems, and new work on principles and guidelines to harmonize the use, development and implementation of (food-producing) establishment listing
A full report of the meeting can be found here, including contact details for each country’s representative on the committee. The draft Food Fraud Prevention guide is included as Appendix II.
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