Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL)

In 1964, the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) formed the Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL) under the aegis of the Canadian government. Initially, terms of reference for CCFL required the Committee to consider the labelling of all foods and in particular, those foods prioritized by commodity committees. It was determined at that time that food labelling information should include detail on identity, lists of ingredients, net contents and grade designations, indication of manufacturer and country of origin, and should address special requirements on type and style of label declarations. Similarly, it was determined that labelling should help prevent misleading or fraudulent information and allow for the harmonization of rules across countries and promote fair trade in food. 

In 1970, it was agreed that CCFL should extend its work to “study problems associated with the advertisement of food with particular reference to claims and misleading descriptions.”  

Nutrition and health have also been a particular focus area in the work of CCFL . In 1979, discussions started on how to clearly convey nutritional values in food and 10 years later, the Committee debated the use of ‘nutrient reference values’ as a means by which to accurately inform consumers about the health impacts of the food they buy.  

A major milestone came in 1985 with the adoption of the General standard for the labelling of prepackaged foods (CXS 1‑1985), which is now the cornerstone text for the Committee. This text introduced mandatory labelling of the name of the food, an ingredients list, net contents, name of manufacturer and country of origin details. Date marking was also introduced with this text and rules on health claims. In the same year, the Guidelines on nutrition labelling (CXG 2‑1985) were also introduced and, with this, nutrition disclosure became a recognized labelling component of food products. 

Later, in the early 1990s, CAC started to consider whether and how foods derived from biotechnology should be labelled. Over time, CAC agreed on additional labelling information consumers might need to make nutritional, religious and health-related choices about their food. 

In the 1990s value-based and ethical labelling aspects were considered leading to the introduction of the Guidelines for organic labelling (CXG 32-1999) in 1999, and with the turn of the century came a shift towards labelling for public health protection. This saw a strengthening of nutrition labelling, clarifications on date marking and greater transparency. Work on allergens, as part of risk communication,  started in this period, with the landmark guidelines on precautionary allergen labelling being adopted in 2026. 

The Committee has also ensured it has kept abreast of labelling innovations and technology by developing Guidelines on the provision of food information for pre-packaged foods to be offered via e-commerce (CXG 104-2024), and Guidelines on the use of technology to provide food information in food labelling (CXG 105-2024).