The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) adopted three international standards for large cardamom, coriander and vanilla at its Forty-Ninth Session in Geneva, Switzerland, from 6 to 10 July 2026. The Commission also accepted India as Co-Chair of a newly constituted Electronic Working Group (EWG) on risk analysis for new food products.
The development matters because Codex standards are used as international reference points for food safety, quality norms and fair practices in food trade. For India, the standards are especially relevant for spice exports and for the country’s credibility in science-based food standard-setting.
Background: what Codex Alimentarius Commission does
The Codex Alimentarius Commission was established jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It develops science-based standards, codes of practice and guidelines for food to protect consumer health and support fair trade.
India hosts the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH), one of the five Codex commodity committees, and the Spices Board serves as its Secretariat. This gives India an important institutional role in the global standard-setting process for spices.
What changed now
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