South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) took a leading role in discussions on international standards for food additives at the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CODEX), the global body responsible for establishing and managing food standards.
The MFDS announced on Tuesday that it played a pivotal role in advancing the internationalization of domestic food additive standards during the 56th CODEX meeting on food additives, held from April 13 to 17 in Chongqing, China.
The agency actively contributed to shaping international standards by proposing revisions to general food additive regulations and suggesting priority lists for safety assessments by the Joint Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/United Nations and the World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).
In a notable development, the MFDS co-chaired discussions with Singapore, China, and Saudi Arabia to develop guidelines for evaluating culture media components in cell-cultured foods, marking the first time this topic was addressed at CODEX. The related draft was a key point of discussion during the meeting.
The MFDS also championed industry interests by leading discussions on expanding the use of steviol glycosides beyond chewable formats in health functional foods.
Another significant achievement was the MFDS’s successful request for JECFA to evaluate the safety of ammonia gas as a processing aid, securing its place on the priority assessment list.
Moreover, the agency spearheaded the adoption of a proposal to establish usage standards for tomato coloring in fish cakes, including imitation crab products. This proposal is set for final approval at the upcoming general assembly in July.
An MFDS spokesperson highlighted that this meeting provided a crucial platform to assert South Korea’s position in setting international food additive standards and to bolster international cooperation in emerging food technologies.