The 5th Session of Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) was held virtually from April 20-29, 2021. It was inaugurated by Rita Teaotia, Chairperson of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI).
- Dr M.R. Sudharshan is the current Chairman of CCSCH.
- India is the host and Spices Board of India (under Ministry of Commerce & Industry) is the Secretariat of CCSCH.
- CCSCH is the 1st Codex Commodity Committee to hold a virtual session; around 300 experts from 50 countries took part in it.
- CCSCH has finalised and recommended quality standards for four spices; cloves, oregano, basil, and ginger. The committee forwarded these four new standards to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) for adoption as full -fledged Codex standards.
- It was also proposed to bring in ‘grouping of spices’ to cover more spices and herbs.
CCSCH
- CCSCH is the youngest of the Codex Commodity Committees.
- It was established in 2013 under Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), an Inter-governmental body.
- It develops harmonised global Codex standards for spices and herbs and forms a standard development process for avoiding duplication.
- India is the host country of CCSCH & Spice Board of India is responsible for organising sessions of the committee.
- The Committee meetings are held once in 18 months. The last CCSCH meeting (4th session) was conducted in 2019 at Trivandrum, Kerala.
- Since establishment, the committee developed and finalized Codex standards for four spices – dried or dehydrated forms of black/white/green pepper, cumin, thyme, and garlic.
Future Enhancement – The committee is also working to develop Codex standards for small cardamom and turmeric, and to develop the first group standard for spices that fall under the class ‘dried fruits and berries’.
Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC)
- An Intergovernmental body set up in 1963 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) & World Health Organization (WHO) for protecting the health of consumers and ensuring fair practices in food trade.
- Members – 189 Countries
Recent Related News:
i.On April 5, 2021, Spices Board India under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry & UNDP India’s Accelerator Lab signed a MoU for developing a blockchain-based traceability interface for Indian Spices to enhance transparency in supply chain and trade.
About Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC)
Chairperson – Guilherme da Costa
Headquarters – Rome, Italy
Members – 189
About Spice Board of India
It was constituted on 1987 under the Spices Board Act, 1986.It functions under Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Chairman & Secretary – D Sathiyan
Headquarters – Kochi, Kerala
