Write a short note on the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
How to lay out the answer. Follow the frame, then write it in your own words.
1 · Open in two lines. Codex Alimentarius ('food code') is the collection of international food standards. It is written by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, set up by FAO and WHO in 1963.
2 · Aims. Protect the health of consumers; ensure fair practices in the food trade.
3 · Draw the structure. [Chart: Commission → Executive Committee and Secretariat (Rome) → general subject, commodity and regional committees; expert bodies JECFA, JMPR, JEMRA]
4 · What it produces. Commodity and general standards, codes of practice (hygiene with HACCP), MRLs, methods of analysis.
5 · India and Codex. FSSAI is the contact point; India hosts the spices committee; Indian standards are harmonised with Codex.
6 · Kitchen link. The Codex hygiene and HACCP code is the model for catering kitchens.
7 · Close in one line. Codex standards are voluntary but, through the WTO, they are the world's benchmark for safe food.
Scoring tip: For 5 marks, the must-write points are 1963, FAO and WHO, the two aims and India's role.
