Politicization, Deadlock, and Dispute: The Impacts of Post-1995 Linkages Between Codex Alimentarius Commission and the World Trade Organization

The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) is an institution created from a vision shared by the administrations of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop science-based food safety standards and guidelines designed to protect consumer health and ensure fair trade practices. The Commission was established to develop “international scientific evaluation mechanisms that could provide the best possible science-based advice to member countries with periodic update[s] to assure that new scientific information was always taken into account in FAO/WHO recommendations” (Lupien 2000, 193). Therefore, the Codex Commissionʼs Statutes and Procedures are designed to ensure that it pursues risk assessment, management, and communication in order to minimize food-related health risks.