Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC)

The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognised standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations published by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations relating to food, food production, food labelling, and food safety.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission’s main goals are to protect the health of consumers, to facilitate international trade, and ensure fair practices in the international food trade.

Importance to the Egg Industry

The Codex Alimentarius, or the food code, has become the global reference point for consumers, food producers and processors, national food control agencies and the international food trade. The code has had an enormous impact on the thinking of food producers and processors as well as on the awareness of the end users – the consumers. Its influence extends to every continent, and its contribution to the protection of public health and fair practices in the food trade is immeasurable.

The IEC is registered with Codex as an accredited Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and as such has the opportunity to attend Codex sessions as an observer. The IEC is an e-Working Group member dealing with issues relevant to the egg sector (production, packing and processing).