Source: International Beef Alliance
Members of the International Beef Alliance (IBA), comprising the cattle producer organizations from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay and the United States, issued the following statement concerning the role of science in the Codex Alimentarius decision-making process related to the Codex Statements of Principle:
“The Codex Alimentarius is an objective, science-based international standard-setting platform that provides an invaluable service to governments, global beef producers, and consumers by making science-based recommendations for the safe production of food. A guiding principle of Codex is the use of the risk-based decision-making process. We believe that the risk-based decision-making process should continue to be based on risk-based analysis, and that any effort to lower that threshold of analysis, even to the level of hazard-based analysis, should be opposed. Furthermore, we believe that extraneous factors not rooted in objective science are outside of the risk-based decision-making process and should not be given the equivalent value as objective science. We are concerned that efforts to change the standards of Codex will greatly undermine the value of Codex and its long-standing reputation as the standard for internationally-recognized science-based standards in safe food production. Changing Codex standards will decrease the ability of global beef producers to follow science-based animal husbandry practices, causing greater uncertainty for food safety throughout the entire beef value chain.”
“The International Beef Alliance urges all beef importing countries and international standard setting bodies to ensure that sound science remains the only basis for establishing and implementing Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary (SPS) trade rules and requirements.”
