The International Dairy Federation (IDF) has published an update to its Bulletin on the Codex General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms, also known as the GSUDT, providing the latest information on the nature, content and possible implications of the GSUDT in the context of national, regional and international trade, including its status in relation to the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade.
Protection of the integrity of dairy is vital, given that the production and placement on the market of nutritionally inferior imitations can pose potential health risks for consumers.
The Codex General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms (CXS 206-1999) was adopted by Codex Alimentarius in 1999, corresponding to its mandate to ensure the correct use of dairy terms intended for milk and milk products, to ensure fair practices in the food trade, and to protect consumers from being confused or misled by the use of dairy terms for non-dairy products.
Globally recognized and implemented in the regulations or policies of many countries all over the world, the clear rules of the Codex GSUDT provide an internationally accepted framework to protect the integrity of milk and milk products against nutritionally inferior imitation products that attempt to take advantage of the natural and healthy image of milk and milk products.
IDF Bulletin 507/2020: The Codex General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms – Its nature, intent, and implications, has been developed to help policymakers, food business operators and enforcement authorities interpret the detail of the GSUDT.
This new edition replaces previous IDF Bulletin 397 of 2005 on the subject.
IDF Bulletin 507/2020 provides details on the GSUDT, covering both labelling and promotional information about dairy products and other foods for further processing as well as for direct consumption, and information on application of the terms “milk”, “milk product”, “composite milk product”, “reconstituted milk product”, “recombined milk product” and other “dairy terms” and information related to the interpretation of Codex GSUDT.
Its application assists consumers all over the world in making their own purchasing decisions regarding milk products versus non-milk products and assists policymakers to ensure fair practices in the food trade.
The edition is free to download from the IDF website.
The release is accompanied by a supporting IDF Position Paper titled ‘The Codex General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms – Its nature, intent, and implications’ on the subject, which provides an overview and key messages.
