From Monday 16 to Friday 20 March, 2015 the Ninth Session of the Codex Alimentarius Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF) is being held in New Delhi.

The Codex Alimentarius is a UN organization which develops international standards for food products with the aim of protecting international food safety and promoting fair trade practices in the food trade.

Unsafe food helps cause an estimated 2 million deaths annually. Contaminants are unwanted toxic substances which can be present in food and feed, for example as a result of environmental pollution. International standards help to improve world food safety, step by step and substance by substance.

The chairmanship of this committee is the responsibility of The Netherlands and is executed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of The Netherlands.

This year the meeting is co-hosted with India. From the Indian side, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is involved in the organization.

The official opening of the meeting took place on 16 March and was performed by Mr Yudhvir Singh Malik, CEO, FSSAI. His Excellency Alponsus Stoelinga, ambassador of the Kingdom of The Netherlands also addressed the meeting together with the officials from FAO and WHO.

The meeting is being attended by delegations from 57 countries and 13 international organisations. Over 200 delegates in total are attending the meeting.