The 26th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission convened from 30 June to 7 July 2003 in Rome, Italy.

The Commission is a subsidiary of both the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and is the highest international body on food standards. Delegates from 127 member countries attended the session and adopted over 50 new safety and quality standards, including agreement on assessing the risks to consumers from foods derived from biotechnology, including genetically modified foods and irradiated products. The guidelines cover the scientific assessment of DNA-modified plants, such as maize, soya or potatoes, and foods and beverages derived from DNA-modified micro-organisms, including cheese, yogurt and beer. New quality standards adopted by the session include the specification that products marketed as “chocolate” must have a minimum of 35% cocoa solids, while “chocolate type” products must have a minimum of 20%.
The report of the meeting will be available at:
http://www.codexalimentarius.net/reports.asp
A UN news report of the meeting is available at:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=7668&Cr=FAO&Cr1=WHO