Internationally Harmonized, Risk-Based PAL Statements

The new PAL guidelines have been adopted as an annex to the General Standard for the Labeling of Pre-Packaged Foods. They incorporate a risk-based framework for PAL and recommend a systematic, uniform approach to utilizing PAL statements based on established threshold levels and reference doses for priority food allergens, including gluten.

The guidelines are intended to address the issue of allergen warning statements that differ across the world and lack standardization in many countries. Such inconsistencies make it difficult for allergic consumers to realistically understand the risk associated with eating a food with an allergen warning statement. Therefore, the new Codex guidance aims to ensure such warnings are used only when the risk of unintended allergen presence has been scientifically assessed and cannot be adequately controlled through good allergen management practices.

Recognizing Codex’s progress toward the official adoption of risk-based PAL, several countries, including the U.S., UK, and EU, have already opened discussions around adopting such a framework nationally.

Other Standards Adopted at CAC49

Aside from the new PAL guidelines, additional standards adopted during the first day of CAC49 include:

• Revised Guidelines for the control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat (CXG 78-2011): This revision follows updated expert advice from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Joint 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.
• Revised Guidelines on the application of general principles of food hygiene to the control of Listeria monocytogenes in foods (CXG 61-2007): These revisions follow updates to JEMRA’s 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. The revision also provides updated guidance on environmental monitoring programs, characterizing isolates, and identifying RTE foods in which the growth of L. monocytogenes will not occur.
• Standard for baker’s yeast: In the absence of a harmonized international standard for yeast, in 2024, CAC47 approved new work on the development of a standard for bakers’ yeast. 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 (CCFA), 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): Based on a sweeping review that considered the latest dietary exposure assessments, CCFA lowered use levels for 19 of the 54 Codex provisions related to polyglycerol ester emulsifiers. Examples include lowering the level in the food category “Fruit-based desserts, including fruit-flavored water-based desserts” from 5,000 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) to 100 mg/kg. CCFA also agreed to revoke six provisions, such as the use of “Steamed breads and buns” in the food category.

Note from the Editor: This article will be edited to include future updates regarding standards adopted at CAC49.