Bhutan has been a Member of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) since the year 1999. The CAC is a joint body of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) set up in 1963 with the mandate to develop international food standards, code of practices, guidelines, and other recommendations to protect health of consumers and provide assurance of fair practices in food trade. The CAC has over 189 Member Countries and one Member Organization (EU). The World Trade Organizations, in its Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement, recognizes the standards elaborated by the Codex Alimentarius Commission as the global reference standards for consumers, food producers, processors, national food control agencies and all others involved in international food trade.

Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA), under Ministry of Agriculture and Forests has been functioning as the National Codex Contact Point (NCCP) since 2003. The National Codex Committee (NCC) was established in 2005 through the Food Act of Bhutan 2005 and its Regulation 2017. The NCC and its sub-Committees with broad representation of national experts from relevant agencies serves as the technical advisory body to provide technical opinion on food safety and quality issues in Bhutan and coordinates Codex related works at the national level.