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India re-elected to Codex Executive Committee with unanimous mandate
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Saturday, 22 November, 2025, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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India secured a unanimous re-election to the Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CCEXEC) for the Asia region at the recently concluded 48th session of the Commission (CAC48). The reinstatement cements India’s position as a key collaborative leader in global food safety, quality and trade governance.
The Indian delegation, led by Rajit Punhani, Chief Executive Officer of FSSAI, and comprised of representatives from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, and several technical expert bodies, achieved several strategic outcomes. Chief among them was the unanimous global endorsement of India’s membership on CCEXEC until CAC50 (2027), signalling trust in India’s ability to represent Asia’s technical and trade priorities on the world stage.
India made a strong contribution to efficiency and future-oriented reform of the Codex system, advocating for modern technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline operations — for example, in document translation and data-management workflows. The country also emphasized the need to ground international standards in regional data, ensuring that standards reflect untapped regional realities and laboratory capacities.
Several concrete standard-setting achievements were recorded during the session. Under India’s chairmanship of working groups in the Codex Committee on fresh fruits and vegetables (CCFFV), the Standard for fresh dates advanced to Step 8, and a Standard for fresh curry leaves was forwarded for adoption — both measures expected to harmonize trade practices and improve product quality. In the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR), India helped drive the adoption of guidelines regarding the stability and purity of reference materials used in pesticide residue testing — a key step in strengthening regional lab reliability and contributing data for maximum residue limits (MRLs).
Additionally, India secured progress on a long-pending standard for cashew kernels, and backed the conversion of a regional standard for laver products into a global one, as well as a new commodity standard for pasteurised liquid camel milk.
By renewing its commitment to such multilateral food governance frameworks, India signals a deepening engagement in global food safety, quality, and trade-fairness systems — reinforcing its role as a proactive player in setting the international agenda.
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