Bringing Local Food Systems to Global Standards

April 7th, 2025

Ty Tan

“Slow and Steady Wins the Race” accurately describes the philosophy of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC,) a body responsible for implementing the food safety and labeling standards of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. In the immediate post-COVID world, the international community's focus has been on protecting global food systems from the dangerous effects of climate change and pandemics. Yet, the CAC has had adjacent discussions on a problem of similar importance: guidelines in local food systems. Initially introduced in November of 2022 during a session of the United Nations Codex Commission on Food Hygiene, the proposed Guidelines for Food Hygiene Control Measures in Traditional Markets for Food present a notable opportunity for strengthening global public health. The shift movement of these guidelines display its perceived urgency for the CAC, an organization which typically lengthily reviews any proposed guidelines. With widespread support, the guidelines aim to address the commonly forgotten traditional food markets that generate vibrant life.

The importance of traditional food systems can’t be understated. The FAO and WHO estimate that 2.5 billion people eat street food daily, providing a significant source of income and nutrition. In low and middle-income countries, traditional markets are where local consumers buy much of their fresh food: meat, poultry, seafood, fruits, and vegetables. This posits that vendors sell clean food to prevent the carrying and spread of pathogens that cause foodborne illness. However, this typically isn’t the case, making the WHO estimate that one in 10 consumers experiences a foodborne illness each year, disproportionately burdening consumers in low and middle-income countries. As a result, the proposed CAC guidelines tackle this very issue, putting global guidelines for food safety on traditional food systems that contain abundant sources of food contamination.

Despite its good intentions, the introduction of such guidelines poses concerns about what food hygiene control measures mean for the local traders and street food vendors. In many Asian and African nations, traditional markets and street vendors are mostly informal and unstructured. This controlled chaos is best understood by Nash Tysmans, Streetnet Asia regional organizer, who argues that without consultation with street vendors and market traders, attempts at implementing global guidelines will destroy long-standing local cultural practices and neglect traditional food markets.

Although the guidelines have been lauded as a critical milestone towards enhancing food safety practices, the circumstances of developing countries seem to be ignored. The future of global guidelines in the traditional food systems that feed the globe remains ambiguous.