Codex processed cheese project causes dismay

The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) has described a decision from the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) to approve recommendations to work on a new standard for processed cheese as “disheartening”. At a recent meeting in Geneva the UN-backed CAC adopted the recommendations from the Codex Committee on Milk & Milk Products to scrap existing processed cheese standards and work on the creation of a new one.

The US-based trade body welcomes the decision to scrap the existing standards, claiming that they were outdated and failed to reflect the processed cheese that is now being traded internationally. However, the IDFA opposes the move to begin work on a new set of standards, as there have been no positive outcomes after 12 years of work. IDFA believes Codex resources would be better targeted in other areas, according to the association.

The IDFA said it is opposed to accepting poorly written updates that might compromise the US processed cheese domestic market. In particular, the lobby group said it was afraid that a new Codex processed cheese standard would result in lower-quality imitation cheese being covered by the same international standard as high-quality American processed cheese.

Dairy UK, for its part, is starting to develop its own code of practice in the absence of an agreement at Codex level, and expects to finish this work within 12 months.