Codex Alimentarius Austriacus

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Codex Alimentarius Austriacus is Austria’s collection of food standards, guidelines, and product descriptions. It began in 1891 under the Austria-Hungary Empire and is still used today. The standards were mainly created by voluntary experts from the food industry and universities. They are not laws, but courts have used them to judge the identity and quality of foods. In the early 20th century it was mainly known in German-speaking countries, and its name helped inspire the international Codex Alimentarius by the FAO and WHO. The Austriacus has three volumes and was completed between 1910 and 1917 by O. Dafert. It wasn’t part of Austrian law until 1975. In the 1950s, Hans Frenzel pushed for a Europe-wide Codex based on the Austrian model, which led to the Council of Codex Alimentarius Europaeus in 1958. In 1975 the Austrian committee was reorganized to align with Austrian food laws, which are among the strictest.