In this post we’ll look briefly at what Codex is, but this is just groundwork for the next post on the subject which will be what you can, and should, do about it….

What is it?

Codex Alimentarius…quite a mouthful…in more ways than one.

Many of you will have heard of this by now, and some of you may well be worrying.  Codex Alimentarious, or Codex, as it is often called for short, is simply a set of rules for the trade of food.  I say simply because everything else about it isn’t simple at all.

You can watch films and read about it elsewhere, but to bring you ‘up to speed’ in a nutshell here are its key points:

 - it was conceptualised in the early 60’s as being a mechanism for handling trade disputes.  It is the brainchild of the WTO, the FAA and the UN.
- even then, it was given a global implementation date of the end of 2009.
- it covers ALL aspects of food trade between WTO Nations.
- it covers size, weight, transport, handling and presentation guidelines for most things you can think of.
- there are rumours it holds mandate to enforce the irradiation of food, the pharmaceutical treatment of animals for human consumption – I personally have not been able to find this first-hand, so can only mention as I know it, which is hear-say. If someone has the pages from the 60-odd thousands pages of Codex which state this, please pass them to me and I will publish them.
- it is apparently also passed under NAPOLEONIC law.  This is very interesting if it is true, since under our Law, Anything not prohibited is tolerated.  Napoleonic law is the other way around – if its not written down, you’re not allowed to do it.  This has perhaps the largest ramifications of any aspect of Codex, if it is true.
- it determines the levels of vitamin and supplement strengths permitted for sale without prescription. It seems to be Codex which has led to the ban of sales of Vitamin C in the US and other supplements. It is also rumoured (i say that only because, again, i haven’t seen the paperwork) that Codex handles vitamins under Toxin Risk Assessment as opposed to Health Food Risk Assessment.  This is a turning on its head because in Toxin risk assessment, whenever there is an effect on the body, the upper limit is set just below that. When it is health food risk assessment, it is not until there is an effect on the body that the LOWER limit is set….So as you can see, this would mean that nutrients and vitamins would be sold at levels that HAD NO EFFECT.  Potentially disastrous, we are told by nutritionists.

OK – here are a few short films on it, then I want to say a bit more…and I’ll be saying a lot more about it in coming months and showing you how we (me and my partner and friends) are combatting Codex…by completely ignoring it.

One thing is for sure about Codex, big companies have been in there from the beginning making it very difficult for small or non-wealthy suppliers to be able to meet the guidelines, or pay whatever associated fees there are.

I don’t want to harp on about the negatives of Codex because there are plenty of folks doing that – I want to highlight whats good about Codex – and I don’t mean theres anything good about Codex itself, just what good we can take from it.

I’ll tackle that in the next post on it.