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Rome
A moment of pride and honour for India, as the country’s global leadership in food safety and standard-setting received a huge boost at the 88th Executive Committee meeting of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CCEXEC88). India’s standards in millet grain garnered high praises and were applauded at the high-level gathering.
The 88th CCEXEC was a five-day gathering held in Rome last week starting from 14th July to 18th July. As per the official statement from the meeting, the international committee acknowledged India’s contribution as the leader in the development in standards of whole millet grains. India in coordination with Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal were the ones spearheading the initiative.
The initiative was first cleared in 2024 at the 47th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC47). It was later reviewed again in the meetings held in Rome as per the reports. This year in April, at the 11th session of the Codex Committee on Cereals, Pulses and Legumes (CCCPL), the terms for the millet standardisation initiative were finalised and made clear to everyone.
India as an elected member of the CCEXEC currently played a very huge part in the recent meetings of the committee held in Rome. The meeting was inaugurated by the Deputy Director-General and Director of Cabinet at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Godfrey Magwenzi alongside Jeremy Farrar, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
The country was not only lauded for its leadership in millet grain standardisation but was also hailed for their leadership in advancing new international standards for fresh dates. This referred to the proposal they made in the 23rd session of the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CCFFV23). Now, India will also be co-chairing the upcoming Codex initiatives to develop global standards for fresh turmeric and broccoli.
