KOCHI: The recent decision of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) to adopt three Codex standards for pepper, cumin and thyme is a recognition of India’s stellar role to benchmark and harmonise the global spices trade, the Spices Board has said.
Besides, the move could herald the entry of more spices and herbs in the list of universal trading in safe and quality spices in various countries, it said. CAC is the international food standards-setting body jointly set up by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Spices Board chairman A Jayathilak, who convened a meeting of the officers and delegates associated with the work and functioning of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) at Bolgatty Palace here last week, said the CAC’s historic decision signalled the fact spices had been included as commodities having universal standards for the first time.
“The feat was achieved following India’s relentless efforts to set up CCSCH, which conducted its three sessions in Kochi (2014), Goa (2015) and Chennai (2017) to create a common standardisation process for global spices trade,” he said.
Lauding the efforts of the officials and delegates on this major recognition of India’s initiatives to forge a universal agreement on identifying quality spices in various countries, Jayathilak said the Codex standards for black, white and green pepper, cumin and thyme were adopted by consensus with an overwhelming support from the member-countries of the CAC.
He countered the arguments of those delegations not in favour of the final adoption of these standards by presenting India’s stand before the CAC.
In the meeting in Kochi, he briefly traced the history of the CCSCH committee, which was the first new panel to be approved by Codex in the past 25 years, and outlined the strategic moves convinced the member-countries to vote for approval of the new committee.
“This triumph of CCSCH is the harbinger of a lot of hard work ahead. The number of spices and culinary herbs is very large. Though only 109 spices are notified in the ISO list, their actual number, as used in various countries, will be much higher,” he said.