FAO-WHO 49th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopts new standards

Rome - The United Nations’ international food standards-setting body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, is meeting on 6 to 10 July 2026 to adopt food safety and quality standards. 

Charged with protecting consumer health and ensuring fair practices in the food trade, the Codex Alimentarius Commission is the executive organ of the joint initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme 
 
Brief descriptions of some of the standards adopted at the 49th Session of the Commission are published below. 
 
For more information on the session, visit the  CAC49 information page. 

Revised Guidelines for the control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat (CXG 78-2011)

ADOPTED – 6.7.2026 

According to WHO’s updated estimates on the global burden of foodborne disease, which were released for World food Safety Day this year, non-typhoidal Salmonella cause more burden than any other microbiological hazard. Campylobacter causes the greatest number of cases of foodborne disease. The revision of these guidelines, then, is timely.

The revision to this text follows updated expert advice from the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA), which provided new recommendations on the management of risks associated with Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat from primary production to consumption. This commodity has been identified as one of the most important food vehicles for the transmission of these foodborne hazards.

The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene, which is the committee responsible for this work, keeps these texts and associated developments on the related scientific knowledge, under constant review to ensure its work remains current and fit for purpose.

Revised Guidelines on the application of general principles of food hygiene to the control of Listeria monocytogenes in foods (CXG 61-2007)  

ADOPTED – 6.7.2026

Listeria (L.) monocytogenes is ubiquitous, meaning that it is widely distributed in agricultural, aquacultural, and food processing environments. It can persist on equipment and surfaces and grow under refrigeration temperatures. Listeriosis, the illness caused by L. monocytogenes, has a range of symptoms with varying severity. Non-invasive gastrointestinal illness is the less severe form. There is a more severe, and even life-threatening, form of the disease that occurs when it, on rare occasions, spreads beyond the gut and into the bloodstream and other parts of the body. Certain groups are more susceptible to listeriosis, and in particular the severe form, including pregnant women and their unborn or new-born baby, those with a weakened immune system and adults over the age of 65.

The revision to the Codex Guidelines on the application of general principles of food hygiene to the control of Listeria monocytogenes in foods follows updates by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) to its risk assessments of L. monocytogenes in food commodities including ready-to-eat (RTE) diced cantaloupe, frozen vegetables, and RTE cold-smoked fish.

The guidelines advise food business operators and competent authorities on a framework for the control of L. monocytogenes, with the primary purpose of minimizing the likelihood of illness arising from the presence of L. monocytogenes in foods. They focus on control measures that can be used, where appropriate, to minimize and/or prevent the contamination and/or the growth of L. monocytogenes in foods, and this revision also provides updated guidance on environmental monitoring programmes and recommendations for characterizing isolates and for how food business operators can identify RTE foods in which growth of L. monocytogenes will not occur.

Standard for bakers’ yeast  

ADOPTED – 6.7.2026

In the absence of a harmonized international standard for yeast, the 47th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission approved new work on the development of a standard for bakers’ yeast in 2024. The standard applies to baker’s yeast as a food ingredient in the production of baked foods. As a widely traded commodity, different regions have different requirements for physical and chemical properties in baker’s yeast products, which may lead to trade barriers in importing and exporting these products between countries and regions.

This is the first commodity standard fully elaborated by the Codex Committee on Food Additives, which mainly elaborates maximum levels for food additives.

Revisions to the General standard for food additives (GSFA, CXS 192-1995) - Polyglycerol esters of fatty acids (INS 475) 

ADOPTED – 6.7.2026

There were 56 provisions relating to the emulsifiers known as polyglycerol esters in the GSFA. Based on the latest dietary exposure assessments, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) recommended a review of the current uses, use levels and food categories for these additive provisions.

The relevant committee, the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA), agreed to reduce use levels for 19 of the 56 provisions. Examples include lowering the level in the food category “Fruit-based desserts, including fruit-flavoured water-based desserts”, from 5000 mg/kg to 100 mg/kg. CCFA also agreed to revoke six provisions, for example, the use in the food category “Steamed breads and buns”. The 49th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission has now adopted those changes.