The Work We Do – Food Safety and Codex Alimentarius. Sarah Cahill

Sarah Cahill is the Secretary of Codex Alimentarius, the international body that develops the food standards behind much of what we eat, how it is labelled, and how it moves across borders. In this episode of The Work We Do, Sarah joins us in the Situation Room to discuss the past, present and future of Codex. We explore how Codex helped countries come together around scientific evidence to protect consumers, reduce foodborne risks and build trust in global food trade. Its work may be invisible to most people, but it sits behind everyday decisions: what appears on a food label, how contaminants are controlled, how additives are assessed, how hygiene rules are applied, and how countries agree that food is safe to trade. Katrin and Sarah also discuss the difficult process of reaching agreement between countries, why some standards take years to develop, and how science helps create common ground in a world of different regulations, risks and food systems. Finally, Sarah looks to the future: a warming planet, changing food safety hazards, water scarcity, seaweed, cell-based foods and the new questions regulators will need to answer. A conversation about the quiet global work that helps keep food safe, and why it shapes our lives more than we realise.