Codex Committee’s 7th session on spices and culinary herbs held at Kochi

Quality standards for 5 spices, namely small cardamom, turmeric, juniper berry, allspice and star anise were finalised

The 7th session of the Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH) was held at Kochi. After the Covid-19 pandemic, CCSCH7 was the first session of this committee to be conducted physically. 109 delegates from 31 countries attended the session. 

CCSCH7 achieved excellent results. In this session, quality standards for 5 spices, namely small cardamom, turmeric, juniper berry, allspice and star anise were finalised.

CCSCH has forwarded these five standards to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) recommending for adoption at final Step 8 as full-fledged Codex standards.

For the first time in this committee, the strategy of grouping spices was successfully implemented. In this manner, the committee finalised the first group standard for ‘spices derived from fruits and berries’ (covering 3 spices, viz, juniper berry, allspice and star anise) in the present session. 

The draft standard for vanilla progressed to step 5 and would be subjected to one more round of scrutiny by member countries before being taken up for discussion in the next session of the committee.

Proposals for the development of Codex standards for Dried Coriander Seeds, Large Cardamom, Sweet Marjoram and Cinnamon were put before the committee and were accepted. The committee will work on draft standards for these four spices in its forthcoming editions. 

The 7th session of CCSCH witnessed the participation of a large number of Latin American countries for the first time.