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International Food Control Systems/Laws,

Regulations, and Standards/Guidelines
with Regard to Food Safety
For FSSAI Exam

FORFOr
RBIFSSAI
GradeExam
B EXAM
FSSAI – International Food Control Systems Free FSSAI e-book

International Food Control Systems/Laws,

Regulations, and Standards/Guidelines
with Regard to Food Safety
For FSSAI Exam
Table of Contents
Overview of CODEX Alimentarius .......................................................................................................... 1
Commission (History, Members, Standard Setting, and Advisory Mechanisms: JECFA, JEMRA,
JMPR) ...................................................................................................................................................... 2
WTO Agreements (SPS/TBT) .................................................................................................................. 4
FSSAI Mock Tests & Online Study Material ........................................................................................... 6

Overview of CODEX Alimentarius

➢ The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally adopted food standards and related
texts presented in a uniform manner.

➢ These food standards and related texts aim at protecting consumers' health and ensuring fair
practices in the food trade.

➢ The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of

practice, guidelines, and other recommendations published by the Food and Agriculture
Organization relating to food, food production, food labelling, and food safety.

➢ Its name is derived from the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus.

➢ Its texts are developed and maintained by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), a body
established in early November 1961 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO), was joined by the World Health Organization (WHO) in June 1962 and held its
first session in Rome in October 1963.

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

➢ The CAC is an intergovernmental organization; the member states of the FAO and WHO send
delegations to the CAC.

➢ As of 2021, there were 189 members of the CAC (188 member countries plus one member
organization, the European Union (EU) and 239 Codex observers (59 intergovernmental
organizations, 164 non-governmental organizations, and 16 United Nations organizations).
FSSAI – International Food Control Systems Free FSSAI e-book

Commission (History, Members, Standard Setting, and Advisory Mechanisms:

JECFA, JEMRA, JMPR)

I. JECFA

➢ The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is an international expert
scientific committee that is administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) has been meeting
since 1956, initially to evaluate the safety of food additives.

➢ Areas of work

➢ Risk assessment/safety evaluation

➢ Food additives (intentionally added)

➢ Processing aids (considered as food additives)

➢ Flavouring agents (by functional groups)

➢ Residues of veterinary drugs in animal products

➢ Contaminants

➢ Natural toxins

➢ Exposure assessment

➢ Specifications and analytical methods, residue definition, MRL proposals (veterinary drugs)

Development of General Principles

• JECFA has evaluated more than 2,500 food additives, approximately 40 contaminants and
naturally occurring toxicants, and residues of approximately 90 veterinary drugs.

• The Committee has also developed principles for the safety assessment of chemicals in foods
that are consistent with current thinking on risk assessment and take account of
developments in toxicology and other relevant sciences.

• The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) announces the publication
of the JOINT FAO/WHO EXPERT COMMITTEE ON FOOD ADDITIVES.

• Expert meeting of Working Group established to consider the evaluation of enzyme

preparations used in the manufacture of foods in preparation for an update of the principles
and methods for the risk assessment of chemicals in food, Environmental Health.
FSSAI – International Food Control Systems Free FSSAI e-book

• FAO/WHO is therefore launching a public consultation to ensure that communication of the

results is transparent, and the guideline contain enough details on the applied methodology,
assumptions, and scientific assessment.

• The collected comments will be used by JECFA to finalize its guideline.

Study Pack & Mock Tests for Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and
Assistants

II. JEMRA

➢ The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) began in
2000 in response to requests from the Codex Alimentarius Commission and FAO and WHO
Member Countries and the increasing need for risk-based scientific advice on microbiological
food safety issues.

➢ JEMRA aims to develop and optimise the utility of Microbiological Risk Assessment (MRA)
as a tool to inform actions and decisions aimed at improving food safety and to make it equally
available to both developing and developed countries.

Risk management

• Microbiological risk management is a dynamic process, using data inputs and

decision-making parameters that may change over time.

• As microbiological food safety issues are brought to the attention of risk managers,
there needs to be a systematic preliminary process that brings particular issues into
focus and guides further action.

• Using microbiological risk assessment in food safety risk management is an area that
is still developing.

• For MRA to become a truly useful decision-support tool there is a need for risk
managers to understand when and how it can be used.

III. JMPR

➢ The "Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues" (JMPR) is an expert ad hoc body administered
jointly by FAO and WHO in the purpose of harmonizing the requirement and the risk
assessment on the pesticide residues.

➢ The JMPR has met annually since 1963 to conduct scientific evaluations of pesticide residues
in food.

➢ It provides advice on the acceptable levels of pesticide residues in food moving in international
trade.
FSSAI – International Food Control Systems Free FSSAI e-book

➢ The JMPR consists of experts who attend as independent internationally recognized

specialists who act in a personal capacity and not as representatives of national governments.

➢ The current JMPR comprises the WHO Core Assessment Group and the FAO Panel of Experts
on Pesticide Residues in Food and the Environment.

➢ The WHO Core Assessment Group is responsible for reviewing pesticide toxicological data
and estimating Acceptable Daily Intakes (ADI), acute reference doses (ARfDs) and
characterizes other toxicological criteria.

➢ The FAO Panel is responsible for reviewing pesticide data residue and for estimating
maximum residue levels, supervised trials median residue values (STMRs) and highest
residues (HRs) in food and feed.

➢ The maximum residue levels are recommended to the Codex Committee on Pesticide
Residues (CCPR) for consideration to be adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission
(CAC) as CXLs.

➢ The output of JMPR not only constitutes the essential basis for Codex MRLs for food and
agricultural commodities circulating in international trade, its health-based guidance for
pesticides (i.e., ADIs and ARfDs) and recommends maximum residue levels also benefit to the
governments of the member countries and regions.

Study Pack & Mock Tests for Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants

WTO Agreements (SPS/TBT)

➢ The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the "SPS
Agreement") entered into force with the establishment of the World Trade Organization on
1 January 1995.

➢ It concerns the application of food safety and animal and plant health regulations.

➢ This introduction discusses the text of the SPS Agreement as it appears in the Final Act of the
Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations, signed in Marrakesh on 15 April 1994.

➢ This agreement and others contained in the Final Act, along with the General Agreement on
Tariffs and Trade as amended (GATT 1994), are part of the treaty which established the
World Trade Organization (WTO).

➢ The WTO superseded the GATT as the umbrella organization for international trade.

➢ The WTO Secretariat has prepared this text to assist public understanding of the SPS
Agreement.

➢ It is not intended to provide a legal interpretation of the agreement.

FSSAI – International Food Control Systems Free FSSAI e-book

➢ The WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (the “TBT Agreement”) establishes rules
and procedures regarding the development, adoption, and application of voluntary product
standards, mandatory technical regulations, and the procedures (such as testing or
certification) used to determine whether a particular product meets such standards or
regulations.

➢ The aim of the TBT Agreement is to prevent the use of technical requirements as
unnecessary barriers to trade.

➢ Although the TBT Agreement applies to a broad range of industrial and agricultural products,
sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures and specifications for government procurement
are covered under separate agreements.

➢ The TBT Agreement rules help to distinguish legitimate standards and technical regulations
from protectionist measures.

➢ Standards, technical regulations, and conformity assessment procedures are to be developed

and applied on a non-discriminatory basis developed and applied transparently and should be
based on relevant international standards and guidelines, when appropriate.

➢ The USTR WTO & Multilateral Affairs (WAMA) office has responsibility for trade discussions
and negotiations, as well as policy coordination, on issues related to technical barriers to
trade and standards-related activities.

Study Pack & Mock Tests for Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants
FSSAI – International Food Control Systems Free FSSAI e-book

FSSAI Mock Tests & Online Study Material

To help you kick-start your prep for the FSSAI exam, we are here with the FSSAI study packs for the
posts of Technical Officers, Central Food Safety Officers (CFSO) and Assistants. Do take a look at the
online course offerings given here:

Study Pack for CFSO & Technical Officers Study Pack for Assistants
• Computer Section & CA Notes (Part A) • Computer Section & CA Notes

• Detailed Notes for Part B • Detailed Notes - FSSAI Related Section

• 5 Full-Length Mock Tests • 5 Full-Length Mock Tests

Take Your Pick

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