Book excerpt: The Procedural Manual of the Codex Alimentarius Commission helps national delegations and international organizations attending as observers, participate effectively in the work of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. It sets out the basic Rules of Procedure, procedures for the elaboration of Codex standards and related texts, and basic definitions and guidelines for the operation of Codex committees. It also gives the membership of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. This newly designed 28th edition with the first change in layout since the 1960s, amends the section on commodity standards dealing with non-retail containers; introduces new text on Criteria and procedural guidelines for Codex committees and ad hoc intergovernmental task forces working by correspondence, and there is a new annex concerning the Approach for the extrapolation of maximum residue limits of veterinary drugs to one or more species to the risk analysis principles applied by the Committee on residues of veterinary drugs in foods.