Codex Alimentarius Austriacus

Food safety
Terms
Foodborne illness
Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP)
Critical control point
Critical factors
FAT TOM
pH
Water activity (aw)
Bacterial pathogens
Clostridium botulinum
Escherichia coli
Salmonella
Listeria
Vibrio cholerae
Viral pathogens
Enterovirus
Hepatitis A
Rotavirus
Norovirus
Parasitic pathogens
Entamoeba histolytica
Cryptosporidiosis
Giardia
Trichinosis

In the Austrian-Hungarian Empire between 1897 and 1911, a collection of standards and product descriptions for a wide variety of foods was developed as the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus.[1] The decision to establish it was made in Vienna in October 1891.[2]

Mainly the outcome of a voluntary effort on the part of experts in the food industry and universities, the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus was not, strictly speaking, a collection of legally enforceable food standards. It was, however, used by the courts to determine standards of identity for foods.[3]

Little known beyond the German-speaking countries of Europe, it was subsequently to lend its name to the present-day international Codex Alimentarius Commission, the current international food codex collaboratively worked out by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization.[3]

Consisting of three volumes, the Codex was finished in 1910–1917 by O. Dafert but lacked actual integration in the Austrian law until 1975.

The idea of a Europe-wide Codex Alimentarius based on the Austrian model was actively pursued by Hans Frenzel of Austria between 1954 and 1958. Frenzel's work culminated in the creation of the Council of the Codex Alimentarius Europaeus in June 1958 under the joint sponsorship of the International Commission on Agricultural Industries and the International Bureau of Analytical Chemistry.[3]

In 1975, the committee for the Codex Alimentarius Austriacus was reorganised within the Austrian food law, which is still known as one of the strictest food laws in the world.

See also

References

External links