Two long-running files have kept EFAD’s Codex Alimentarius Committee busy throughout 2025 and 2026. The first is the development of Nutrient Reference Values for persons aged 6–36 months (NRVs-R): EFAD has taken part in the electronic Working Group since 2025, submitting detailed technical responses to three successive rounds of consultation, most recently in September 2026. These values will underpin the nutritional composition requirements for foods aimed at this critical stage of a child’s development, and go before the Committee under Agenda Item 4. The second is the draft Standard for Foods for Older Infants and Young Children (FFOIYC): since mid-2025, EFAD has fed several rounds of comments into this eWG — most recently on the data sources and dietary-modelling methods used to underpin the standard — ahead of the physical working group in Nuremberg and the Committee’s discussion under Agenda Item 5.

CCNFSDU45 will also open a new and closely watched conversation, under Agenda Item 8, “Proposals for New Work/Emerging Issues.” The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) has proposed that Codex develop guidance on risk-analysis approaches for diet-related non-communicable diseases (DRNCD), a framework for assessing health risk at the level of food categories, alongside (not instead of) today’s nutrient-based approach. EFAD is engaging with IFT on this proposal through the Joint Scientific Observer Coordination Group (JSOCG), the coalition of Codex-accredited scientific organizations, including AOAC, ILSI, NSF International and the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) alongside EFAD and IFT, that provides independent scientific input to Codex work. Following an informative meeting with IFT in September 2026, EFAD is now preparing its position on the proposal, with particular attention to ensuring robust public-health safeguards and coordination with the parallel international conversation on ultra-processed foods.

From infant nutrition standards to the next generation of Codex risk frameworks, EFAD’s presence in Nuremberg keeps European dietetic expertise squarely in the room where these decisions are shaped.

Follow EFAD’s Codex work and get involved through the EFAD Codex Alimentarius Committee.