Codex Committees may ask the advice and guidance of committees having responsibility for matters applicable to all foods on any points coming within their province.
The Codex Committees on Food Labelling; Food Additives and Contaminants; Methods of Analysis and Sampling; Food Hygiene; Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses; and Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems may establish general provisions on matters within their terms of reference. These provisions should only be incorporated into Codex Commodity Standards by reference unless there is a need for doing otherwise.
Codex Commodity standards shall contain sections on hygiene, labelling and methods of analysis and sampling and these sections should contain all of the relevant provisions of the standard. Provisions of Codex General Standards, Codes or Guidelines shall only be incorporated into Codex Commodity Standards by reference unless there is a need for doing otherwise. Where Codex Committees are of the opinion that the general provisions are not applicable to one or more commodity standards, they may request the responsible Committees to endorse deviations from the general provisions of the Codex Alimentarius. Such requests should be fully justified and supported by available scientific evidence and other relevant information. Sections on hygiene, labelling, and methods of analysis and sampling which contain specific provisions or provisions supplementing the Codex General Standards, Codes or Guidelines shall be referred to the responsible Codex Committees at the most suitable time during Steps 3, 4 and 5 of the Procedure for the Elaboration of Codex Standards and Related Texts, though such reference should not be allowed to delay the progress of the standard to the subsequent steps of the Procedure.
Subject and commodity Committees should refer to the principles and guidelines developed by the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems when developing provisions and/or recommendations on inspection and certification and make any appropriate amendments to the standards, guidelines and codes within the responsibility of the individual committees at the earliest convenient time.
Food Labelling
The provisions on food labelling should be included by reference to the Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods (CODEX STAN 1-1985). Exemptions from, or additions to, the General Standard which are necessary for its interpretation in respect of the product concerned should be justified fully, and should be restricted as much as possible.
Information specified in each draft standard should normally be limited to the following:
Where the scope of the Codex Standard is not limited to prepackaged foods, a provision for labelling of non retail containers may be included.
In such cases the provision may specify that:
In respect of date marking (Section 4.7 of the General Standard), a Codex Committee may, in exceptional circumstances, determine another date or dates as defined in the General Standard, either to replace or to accompany the date of minimum durability, or alternatively decide that no date marking is necessary. In such cases, a full justification for the proposed action should be submitted to the Codex Committee on Food Labelling.“Information on ...[12] shall be given either on the container or in accompanying documents, except that the name of the product, lot identification, and the name and address of the manufacturer or packer shall appear on the container.[13]
However, lot identification, and the name and address of the manufacturer or packer may be replaced by an identification mark provided that such a mark is clearly identifiable with the accompanying documents.”
Food Additives and Contaminants
Codex commodity committees should prepare a section on food additives in each draft commodity standard and this section should contain all the provisions in the standard relating to food additives. The section should include the names of those additives which are considered to be technologically necessary or which are widely permitted for use in the food within maximum levels where appropriate.
All provisions in respect of food additives (including processing aids) and contaminants contained in Codex commodity standards should be referred to the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants preferably after the Standards have been advanced to Step 5 of the Procedure for the Elaboration of Codex Standards or before they are considered by the Commodity Committee concerned at Step 7, though such reference should not be allowed to delay the progress of the Standard to the subsequent Steps of the Procedure.
All provisions in respect of food additives will require to be endorsed by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, on the basis of technological justification submitted by the commodity committees and of the recommendations of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives concerning the safety-in-use (acceptable daily intake (ADI) and other restrictions) and an estimate of the potential and, where possible, the actual intake of the food additives, ensuring conformity with the General Principles for the Use of Food Additives.
In preparing working papers for the Codex Committee on Food Additives, the Secretariat should make a report to the Committee concerning the endorsement of provisions for food additives (including processing aids), on the basis of the General Principles for the Use of Food Additives. Provisions for food additives should indicate the International Numbering System (INS) number, the ADI, technological justification, proposed level, and whether the additive was previously endorsed (or temporarily endorsed).
When commodity standards are sent to governments for comment at Step 3, they should contain a statement that the provisions “in respect of food additives and contaminants are subject to endorsement by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants and to incorporation into the General Standard for Food Additives or the General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Foods.”
When establishing provisions for food additives, Codex committees should follow the General Principles for the Use of Food Additives and the Preamble of the General Standard for Food Additives. Full explanation should be provided for any departure from the above recommendations.
When an active commodity committee exists, proposals for the use of additives in any commodity standard under consideration should be prepared by the committee concerned, and forwarded to the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants for endorsement. When the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants decides not to endorse specific additives provisions (use of the additive, or level in the end-product), the reason should be clearly stated. The section under consideration should be referred back to the Committee concerned if further information is needed, or for information if the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants decides to amend the provision.
When no active commodity committee exists, proposals for new additive provisions or amendment of existing provisions, should be forwarded directly by member countries to the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants.
Good Manufacturing Practice means that:
Food Hygiene
Commodity Committees should use in the commodity standards the following text:
Methods of Analysis and Sampling
Normal Practice
Except for methods of analysis and sampling associated with microbiological criteria, when Codex committees have included provisions on methods of analysis or sampling in a Codex commodity standard, these should be referred to the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling at Step 4, to ensure Government comments at the earliest possible stage in the development of the standard. A Codex Committee should, whenever possible, provide to the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling information, for each individual analytical method proposed, relating to specificity, accuracy, precision (repeatability, reproducibility) limit of detection, sensitivity, applicability and practicability, as appropriate. Similarly a Codex Committee should, whenever possible, provide to the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling information for each sampling plan relating to the scope or field of application, the type of sampling (e.g. bulk or unit), sample sizes, decision rules, details of plans (e.g. “Operating characteristic” curves), inferences to be made to lots or processes, levels of risk to be accepted and pertinent supportive data.
Other criteria may be selected as required. Methods of analysis should be proposed by the Commodity Committees in consultation if necessary with an expert body.
At Step 4 Codex Commodity Committees should discuss and report to the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling on matters connected with:
The Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling should undertake a coordinating role in matters relating to the elaboration of Codex methods of analysis and sampling. The originating committee is, however, responsible for carrying out the Steps of the Procedure.
When it is necessary, the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling should try to ensure elaboration and collaborative testing of methods by other recognized bodies with expertise in the field of analysis.
The Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling will assess the actual analytical performance of the method which has been determined in its validation. This will take account of the appropriate precision characteristics obtained in collaborative trials which may have been carried out on the method together with results from other development work carried out during the course of the method development. The set of criteria that are developed will form part of the report of the endorsement by the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling and will be inserted in the appropriate Codex Commodity Standard.
In addition, the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling will identify numeric values for the criteria for which it would wish such methods to comply.
Methods of analysis and sampling of general application to foods
When the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling itself elaborates methods of analysis and sampling which are of general application to foods, it is responsible for carrying out the steps of the Procedure.
Methods of analysis of food additives as such
Methods of analysis included in Codex Advisory Food Additives Specifications, for the purpose of verifying the criteria of purity and identity of the food additive, need not be referred to the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling for endorsement. The Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants is responsible for carrying out the steps of the Procedure.
Methods of analysis of pesticide residues in food
The methods for determining the levels of pesticide residues in food need not be referred to the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling for endorsement. The Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues is responsible for carrying out the steps of the Procedure.
Microbiological methods of analysis and sampling
When Codex committees have included provisions on microbiological methods of analysis and sampling for the purpose of verifying hygiene provisions, they should be referred to the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene at the most suitable time during Steps 3, 4 and 5 of the Procedure for the Elaboration of Codex Standards, which will ensure that government comments on the methods of analysis and sampling are available to the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene. The procedure to be followed will be as in the normal practice described above, substituting the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene for the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling. Microbiological methods of analysis and sampling elaborated by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene for inclusion in Codex commodity standards for the purpose of verifying hygiene provisions need not be referred to the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling for endorsement.
