Development of veterinary drug residue controls by the Codex Alimentarius Commission: a review

Within the Codex Alimentarius, transparency is and has been an important consideration with regard to how and why actions and decisions are made in providing stakeholders with sufficient information and clarity on matters of interest and decision-making. This review focuses on the development of analytical methods performance criteria for measuring veterinary drug residues in food-producing animals for the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods. It describes the initial development as well as the evolution and refinement of analytical method performance criteria as well as method validation criteria from its first meeting to the present. Reference is routinely made to published Codex, Food and Agriculture of the United Nations (FAO) reports, guidance documents and manuals as well as those of other relevant analytical method standard-setting organizations with regard to analytical method performance relevant to Codex Alimentarius food safety standards development. Key Codex decisions that have substantially impacted on analytical methods-related issues are described and the subsequent outcomes. It is a reasoned conclusion that the refinement of analytical method performance criteria and validation is an ongoing process that must continuously adapt to present and future scientific issues and decisions within the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its subsidiary bodies as well as relevant analytical standard-setting organizations.