Codex Secretariat

The Secretariat of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), hosted at FAO headquarters in Rome, provides coordination and liaison across the entire spectrum of Codex activities. Under the overall guidance of the Codex Secretary, a senior official appointed jointly by the Directors-General of FAO and WHO, the Secretariat comprises a small team of professional and technical officers and support staff.

Sarah_Cahill_CXSEC

Codex Secretary, Sarah Cahill

With an academic background in science and food microbiology and professional experience in the dairy and beverages sectors, Sarah Cahill, an Irish national, has been involved in food safety and international standards setting for over 20 years. She led the FAO Secretariat of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) before joining Codex in 2018.

She has held the post of Secretary since June 2024.

Food standards officers

Codex food standards officers are responsible for the preparation, management and distribution of information from Codex committees to Members and Observers on matters such as proposed draft standards, revisions to texts and the publication of committee reports. Food standards officers are international specialists normally with a background in food safety control, public health, standards setting, food technology, chemistry, microbiology or veterinary medicine.

The Codex Secretariat team

The current Secretariat is made up of:

  • 6 food standards officers
  • 3 seconded food standards officers from Republic of Korea and Singapore
  • 1 junior professional officer from Japan
  • 9 support staff and consultants for IT, web and communications, document management and editing

The Codex Secretariat is also responsible for managing the coordination of work between committees, continuously monitors work planning for active and adjourned committees alike and ensures that Codex texts remain relevant and consistent with current scientific knowledge. Meetings of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and Executive Committee are administered and serviced entirely by the Rome-based staff.