The 34th session of Codex Alimentarius Commission took place from 4-9 July 2011 in Geneva.

The Commission adopted numerous standards for pesticides, additives, and contaminants as well as guidance texts including Guidelines for the Control of Salmonella and Campylobacter in Chicken Meat and the establishment of internationally recognised lists of acceptable previous cargoes for edible fats and oils. New work items were also approved, amongst which were Draft Guidelines for Control of Specific Zoonotic Parasites in Meat: Trichinella spiralis and C. bovis.

On the adoption of additives, the EU resisted the adoption of international standards which would allow the use of colours as food additives in pasta and fresh fish given the concern that these could mislead consumers.

The Commission also ruled out the development of an international standard for processed cheese following concerns raised by a number of countries as to the need for such a standard. Exploratory work will however continue as to whether any such work will be possible at a future date under the auspices of the Committee on Milk and Milk Products.

After several years of discussion, agreement was also reached on the proposed draft compilation of Codex texts relevant to labelling of foods derived from modern biotechnology which recognises that different approaches to the labelling of genetically modified (GM) foods are possible.

A key point on the agenda concerned maximum residue levels for ractopamine, a veterinary drug used for growth promotion. The EU, together with other trading partners, successfully resisted attempts to adopt such MRLs through a procedural vote which underlined the preference of the majority of Members for a consensus-based approach to decision-making in the Codex Alimentarius.

Candidates supported by the EU were nominated to the Codex Alimentarius bureau for the next three-year period. These are Sanjay Dave from India for the post of chair, and for the three available posts of vice-chair: Awilo Ochieng Pernet from Switzerland, Samuel Sefa-Dedeh from Ghana and Samuel Godefroy from Canada.