1. Introduction
The Executive Committee held its Tenth Session at FAO Headquarters in Rome from 16 to 18 May 1967. The Committee was presided over by the Chairman of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Prof. Dr. M.J.L. Dols, and in the presence of the three Vice-Chairmen, Mr. J.H.V. Davies (United Kingdom), Mr. H.V. Dempsey (Canada) and Mr. G. Weill (France). The representation of the geographic locations was as follows: for Africa, Mr. W.F.K. Christian from Ghana; for Asia, Mr. J.S. Mongia from India; for Europe, Mr. J. Serwatowski from Poland; for Southwest Pacific, Mr. I.H. Smith from Australia; for Latin America, Mr. C. García Díaz from Cuba; for North America, Mr. R.F. Anderson from the U.S.A.
2. Adoption of agenda
The Committee adopted with a slight rearrangement of items the provisional agenda.
3. Consideration of paragraph 3(2)(a) of the General Principles of the Codex Alimentarius Commission - Quality Criteria
The Executive Committee, as requested by the Codex Alimentarius Commission at its Fourth Session, discussed the question of the inclusion of quality criteria in Codex Standards. Comments had been received before the meeting from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom and United States of America and these were taken into account in the discussion. The Executive Committee noted that its task was to decide the form in which this question should be put before the next session of the Codex Committee on General Principles and in particular how this question should appear on the provisional agenda of the meeting. The Executive Committee agreed that the Codex Committee on General Principles should be asked to define as clearly as possible the meaning of “quality criteria” in the context of the General Principles of the Codex Alimentarius (see paragraph 3(2)(a) of the General Principles of the Codex Alimentarius). The Executive Committee wished to draw to the attention of the Codex Committee on General Principles the problem caused by the different meanings which had been given to “quality criteria” by some countries and by some of the Codex Commodity Committees. These are covered by one or more of the following:
the quality of raw material, with the object of protecting the health of consumers;
criteria such as taste, odour, colour and texture which may be apprehended by the senses;
basic quality standards for the finished product, with the object of preventing fraud, i.e. the deception of the consumer;
the notion of grades or quality classes (Class I, Class II, etc.);
provisions distinguishing different products of substantially similar type (e.g. soft brown sugar, soft white sugar).
The Executive Committee recommended to the Codex Committee on General Principles the following course of action:
a working paper should be prepared by the Chairman of the Codex Committee on General Principles posing the problem along the lines set out above;
the implications arising out of the different interpretations placed on the term “quality criteria” should be set out clearly in the paper referred to, from the point of view of acceptance of the standards;
the views of the Chairmen of Codex Commodity Committees should be sought by the Secretariat on the problem sufficiently in advance of the next session of the Codex Committee on General Principles for them to be included in the working paper for the meeting;
the comments of governments received in reply to the Secretariat's circular letter of 30 March 1967 (CL 1967-19) should be collated and contained in the working paper for the meeting.
The Executive Committee also recommended that a clear distinction and separation of items on the agenda of the General Principles meeting should be made between the question of the inclusion of “quality criteria” in Codex Standards and the problem of how to deal with “sub-standard” products. The representative for Africa stated that the developing countries were interested particularly in quality grades and class standards for exports and in compositional standards for imported food and domestically produced food for internal consumption. The representative of Africa also expressed the view that, where quality grades or classes of standards already existed for primary commodities which were the raw materials for foods in respect of which Codex Standards were being elaborated, it would be necessary to ensure a proper integration of the Codex Standards and such grades or classes of quality. This was a problem which had already arisen in the case of cocoa beans as raw material for the Codex Standards for chocolate and cocoa products.
The Executive Committee emphasized the need for the Codex Committee on General Principles to give careful consideration to the implications and possible consequence of their recommendations on “quality criteria” for both developed and developing countries. Governments would have a further opportunity to consider the recommendations of the Codex Committee on General Principles when they were submitted to the Fifth Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
4. Metrological aspects of Codex Standards
The Executive Committee had before it a paper on the metrological aspects of Codex Standards (EXEC/1967/5) prepared by the Cuban delegation. The Codex Alimentarius Commission at its Fourth Session had requested the Executive Committee to examine this problem and to make recommendations on this matter. The Executive Committee examined the proposals in this paper which it considered to be important. It decided that it would not be necessary to recommend the establishment of a Codex Committee on Metrology. As regards the proposal concerning the use of the S.I. units, the Executive Committee agreed that Codex Standards should be drafted using these units and recommended that the Secretariat of the Commission be charged with the task of ensuring that the Codex Standards be presented in the S.I. units. In the case of standards which include provisions for the sale of products in standardized amounts, S.I. units should be used, but this would not preclude additional statements in the standards of these standardized amounts in approximately similar amounts in other systems of weights and measures. This would have the advantage of avoiding inconvenience to countries whose production was geared to any one particular system of units. The Executive Committee considered that the declaration of net contents was adequately covered by paragraph 26 of the Report of the Second Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling which reads as follows:
“The net contents may be declared in the metric or Avoirdupois system of measurement according to the requirements of the country in which the food product is sold. No objection should be taken to the use of both systems on the same label.”
5. Report on budgetary arrangements for 1968/69
The Executive Committee took note of the budgetary arrangements for 1968/69, as set out in document EXEC/1967/6. The Secretariat indicated that the WHO Executive Board had recommended to the World Health Assembly which was now meeting a contribution of $ 42,000 for 1968. The amount of the WHO contribution for 1969 was still to be discussed between the Directors-General of FAO and WHO. Regarding the proposed recruitment of an additional staff member in the FAO Food Standards Branch at the P.4 level, the Executive Committee was informed that the person to be recruited would be second-in-charge of the Food Standards Branch and would be expected to have a basic discipline in chemistry coupled with wide experience of the food industry or to have worked with a governmental authority concerned with food standards. The Executive Committee also noted that, while the duty travel of professional staff members of the Food Standards Branch would be approximately the same as in 1966/67, it would be necessary, in connection with meetings of certain Codex Committees, particularly those which were the responsibility of countries whose mother tongue was not one of the official working languages of the Commission, to provide for the attendance of a bilingual shorthand-typist drawn from the Branch to facilitate the preparation of the draft reports for adoption at Committee Sessions.
6. Rules of Procedure of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
The Executive Committee had before it a paper concerning the Rules of Procedure of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (EXEC/67/7).
(a) Official and working languages of the Commission and Coordinating Committees
It was recalled to the Executive Committee that the Commission was advised at its Fourth Session that the Directors-General of FAO and WHO were giving further consideration to the meaning of Rule XII.1. Since that time, the World Health Executive Board has received requests concerning greater use of Spanish and Russian within WHO along similar lines to the arrangements which already exist in respect of English and French. This subject is currently being examined by the World Health Assembly and pending the outcome of the decisions of the Assembly the Executive Committee agreed that no proposals could be made at this time regarding Rule XII.1 concerning the working languages of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies. The Executive Committee was informed that FAO had similarly received a request for the use of Arabic in certain regional bodies and that this matter would be taken up by the FAO governing bodies during the course of the year and any decisions which might have implications for the Codex Alimentarius Commission or its subsidiary bodies will be notified to the Executive Committee.
Similarly, in response to the request in Part VII, paragraph 13 of the Report of the Fourth Session of the Commission concerning the working languages of Coordinating Committees, the Executive Committee was of the opinion that no proposals for the possible amendment of Rule XII.3 should be considered pending the outcome of the decisions of the governing bodies of FAO and WHO on the working languages to be used by these Organizations. The Executive Committee agreed that in the meantime the question of which two official languages of the Commission should be used by the Coordinating Committees should be resolved ad hoc in the light of requests for language facilities made known by the intending participants.
(b) Period of office of members of the Executive Committee representing geographic locations
The Executive Committee noted that the period of office of members of the Commission elected at the Third Session to represent the six geographic locations in the Executive Committee would expire on 27 October 1967, but that no new elections could be held until February 1968 when the Fifth Session would convene, whereas the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen, elected in accordance with Rule II.1, remain in office until the end of the Fifth Session. To deal with this matter for the future, the Executive Committee decided to propose that the text of Rule III.1 should be amended to read as follows:
“Rule III.1
The Executive Committee shall consist of the Chairman and Vice-Chairmen of the Commission, together with six further members, elected by the Commission at regular sessions from among the Members of the Commission, one each coming from the following geographic locations: Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, Southwest Pacific; it being understood that not more than one delegate from any one country shall be a member of the Executive Committee. Members elected on a geographic basis shall hold office from the end of the session of the Commission at which they were elected until the end of the second succeeding regular session and shall be eligible for reelection, but after having served two consecutive terms shall be ineligible to hold such office for the next succeeding term.”
As a consequence of this proposed amendment, the Executive Committee agreed that it would be necessary to propose also the amendment of Rule II.1 as follows:
In the seventh line insert the word “regular” between the words “following” and “session”.
It was agreed that if the Chairman of the Executive Committee considered it necessary to hold a meeting of the present Executive Committee after 27 October 1967 but before the Fifth Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, he would advise the Directors-General to call a meeting of the officers of the Commission with the other members being invited to attend.
(c) Clarification of procedure for the conduct of elections of officers of the Commission and members of the Executive Committee
The Executive Committee noted that there might be a considerable number of elections to be conducted at the Fifth Session of the Commission. There might be elections for the positions of Chairman and Vice-Chairmen, and for all the positions on the Executive Committee representing geographic locations. The procedure for election was covered by Rule VI.5 of the Rules of Procedure of the Commission and by Rule XII of the General Rules of FAO which applies mutatis mutandis to matters not specifically dealt with under Rule VI of the Commission's Rules of Procedure. The Executive Committee recommended that Rule XII(12) of the General Rules of FAO should be used for the purposes of elections, that only governments which had indicated their membership of the Commission not later than the day before the commencement of the Fifth Session of the Commission should be eligible to vote. Because concurrence may be needed from the head of delegations for nominations of the other members of the delegations of Member Countries, the time for nominations should be announced by the Chairman at the beginning of the session. Because of the operation of Rule III.1 it would be necessary to hold three separate elections (1) for Chairman, (2) for three Vice-Chairmen and (3) for members representing the geographic locations. The Executive Committee requested the Secretariat of the Commission to prepare a paper setting out clearly the voting procedures, the Rules of the Commission which would apply and the ineligibility of individuals and certain countries to be re-elected.
(d) Chairmanship of the Committee of Government Experts on the Code of Principles concerning Milk and Milk Products
It was pointed out to the members of the Executive Committee that all Committees under the Rules of Procedure of the Codex Alimentarius Commission have in one way or another a regular chairman, with continuing functions from one session to the next, except the Joint FAO/WHO Committee of Government Experts on the Code of Principles concerning Milk and Milk Products. The Chairman of this body is elected at each session of the Committee and remains in office until the end of the session. This means that the Secretariat has no Chairman or Vice-Chairmen with whom it might communicate in between session concerning arrangements for the following sessions on such matters as agenda, work program, etc. The fact that elections of officers take place at each session also tends to place the Chairman of the meeting and the delegation to which he belongs somewhat at a disadvantage when he has had no prior notice of the possibility of his election. The Executive Committee noted that no amendment of the Rules of Procedure would be necessary if the Committee on the Code of Principles concerning Milk and Milk Products wished to elect a Chairman and Vice-Chairmen with continuing functions to facilitate the Committee's work. It could be done in line with the procedure followed by the Commission for the election of officers. It was recommended that the Committee of Government Experts on the Code of Principles concerning Milk and Milk Products should be asked to consider this matter at its next session and if it so wished it could then elect a Chairman and Vice-Chairmen during the session to serve as the officers for the following session of the Committee.
7. Attendance of Coordinators for regions at meetings of the Executive Committee
At its Fourth Session, the Commission had decided not to amend the Rules of Procedure to include coordinators for regions as ex-officio members of the Executive Committee, but had recommended that coordinators for regions should be permitted to attend meetings of the Executive Committee. The Secretariat pointed to the need for instructions as to how effect should be given to the second part of the above sentence, since it constituted a recommendation of the Commission rather than a decision. The Executive Committee agreed that coordinators should receive an invitation to attend meetings of the Executive Committee, together with the provisional agenda and working documents, and that they could attend throughout the entirety of meetings. Not being members of the Executive Committee, coordinators would not have the right to vote. In accordance with Rule XI.4, any expenses incurred by coordinators in connection with attendance at meetings of the Executive Committee would have to be borne by their national governments.
8. Relations with international governmental and non-governmental organizations
The Executive Committee considered document CL 48/26, prepared by an FAO Interdivisional Working Party for the Forty-Eighth Session of the FAO Council, on the subject of invitations to non-governmental organizations which do not have status with FAO. The Executive Committee decided, in the interests of accuracy, that certain corrections should be made in the document by way of a corrigendum. The corrections decided upon were as follows:
Paragraph 6 The words - “The Directors-General of FAO and WHO have, on the advice of the Commission or its Executive Committee, extended invitations to” appearing at the beginning of the second sentence should be deleted, and the sentence should begin “Invitations have been extended to a number of specialist international organizations …”
Paragraph 7 - centre of paragraph. The words “The Executive Committee of the Commission” appearing at the beginning of the sentence which ends “…. which would make them eligible for attendance at sessions of the Commission and its subsidiary bodies” should be deleted and the sentence should begin as follows: “The Secretariat of the Commission has drawn up a preliminary list …”
Annex B The Executive Committee agreed that the title should be deleted.
The Executive Committee agreed that it would be necessary to await the outcome of the deliberations of the FAO Council on document CL 48/26 before the Commission could go any further into the matter.
9. Date and Provisional Agenda of the Fifth Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
The Executive Committee examined a draft provisional agenda for the Fifth Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission drawn up by the Secretariat. The order of items of business on the agenda was slightly rearranged and items arising under other sections of this report were included in the agenda for consideration by the Commission. The Executive Committee discussed whether it would expedite the deliberations of the Commission if facilities were arranged for the Commission to split into Sub-Committees to consider the standards at Steps 5 and 8. The Executive Committee however concluded that, in view of the considerable number of proposed and draft provisional standards requiring to be examined by the Commission at Steps 5 and 8 respectively, it would probably be more expeditious for the Commission to consider these in plenary. In the light of its examination of the items of business and assessment of the likely time required to complete the agenda, the Executive Committee recommended that the Fifth Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission should commence on 19 February and continue until not later than 1 March 1968. It was also agreed that the session should be held in Rome, because of difficulties in obtaining satisfactory accommodation for the session in Geneva early in 1968. The Executive Committee agreed to recommend to the Commission, in order to facilitate the flow of work between the Commission and Codex Committees, that the Commission should in future hold its regular session in the second half of February.
10. Acceptance of Codex Standards. Consideration of Amendment to paragraph 4 of the General Principles of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
The Executive Committee had before it comments on the above subject from Australia, Canada, India, Poland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The Executive Committee decided that there would be no purpose in entering into a detailed discussion on this question since it would be examined in detail by the Codex Committee on General Principles at its next session. The Executive Committee agreed that the question of acceptance of standards should be treated separately from the subjects of quality criteria, substandard products and the enforcement of standards. The question of the acceptance procedure pertaining to standards developed under the Code of Principles on Milk and Milk Products was raised. The Executive Committee noted that this matter as recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission had been put on the provisional agenda for the next session of the Committee of Government Experts on the Code of Principles concerning Milk and Milk Products, which would be held from 25 to 31 August 1967. The Executive Committee recommended that the conclusions of this Committee should be transmitted to the Codex Committee on General Principles.
11. Responsibility for enforcing Codex Standards in relation to formal acceptance
The question had been raised concerning the responsibility falling upon governments to ensure proper enforcement of Codex Standards which they had accepted. The Executive Committee agreed that this item should be put on the provisional agenda for the next session of the Codex Committee on General Principles, in connection with acceptance.
12. Procedure for the revision of Codex Standards
The Executive Committee noted that a question regarding the procedure for the revision of Codex Standards had been raised during the Fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Fats and Oils. The Executive Committee directed attention to paragraph 4 of the Procedure for the Elaboration of Codex Standards, as qualified by paragraph 2 thereof, (Report of Fourth Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, Appendix IV) which indicated the procedure to be followed.
13. Codes of Practice in relation to the Codex Alimentarius
The Executive Committee agreed on the importance of non-mandatory Codes of Practice to complement the Codex Standards, but noted however that the Statutes of the Commission did not appear to provide for the elaboration of Codes of Practice. Codes of Practice should be regarded as being in the nature of advice to governments, formulated by an international body of experts, as to procedures which might be followed in the handling, processing, packaging, storage and distribution of foods, which will contribute materially to their meeting the purposes of the Codex Alimentarius and the Codex Standards. Such Codes of Practice might not, however, be submitted to governments for formal acceptance although it might be preferable that they should be published in relation to the Codex Alimentarius and distributed to governments through the Codex Procedure. The Executive Committee asked the Secretariat to draw up a paper on the subject for the next session of the Commission.
14. Packaging materials
In accordance with the request of the Commission, the Secretariat had looked into the problem of the migration of chemicals into food from packaging materials. The Executive Committee, after considering the fact that a number of countries were contemplating or had in fact recently introduced legislation to regulate the use of packaging materials and their components, concluded that it might be opportune for the Commission to examine what priority this subject might be given in the Commission's future work. The Secretariat was requested to prepare a paper for consideration by the Commission at its Fifth Session on the subject of packaging materials. This should include information concerning the approaches which had been adopted by various governments to regulate the components of packaging materials.
15. Standard for salt
As requested by the Executive Committee at its Eighth Session, the Secretariat of the Commission had prepared a paper discussing possible approaches which could be considered for standards for salt. The Executive Committee concluded that it would be difficult to elaborate a Codex Standard for salt and that there seemed no need to standardize individual ingredients, such as salt, in a food provided it was fit for human consumption. The Executive Committee noted the paper prepared by the Secretariat and considered that a standard for salt did not appear to be desirable at this time in view of the priorities which had to be followed.
16. Report on Cocoa Beans, Coffee and Tea
The Executive Committee took note of a progress report, which had been prepared by the Secretariat, on standards work concerning cocoa beans, coffee and tea. As regards cocoa beans, the Secretariat indicated that the Codex Committee on Cocoa Products and Chocolate, at its last session, had agreed that the definition of merchantable quality of cocoa beans should be at least the requirements of Grade 2 of the FAO Model Ordinance and Code of Practice for Cocoa Beans. As regards tea, the Executive Committee agreed that tea was not a commodity for which standards could easily be developed in view of the importance of organoleptic considerations in the determination of quality. However, it agreed that standardization from the standpoint of protection of consumers' health could be considered if the commission so decided. Such standardization could cover aspects such as limits on extraneous materials, stalk, dust, heavy metal contaminants, labelling and pesticide residues. As regards ISO activities of interest to the Commission, the Executive Committee was informed that the Chief of the Food Standards Program had been appointed FAO Liaison Officer for ISO affairs and that a member of the staff of the FAO/WHO Food Standards Branch would be attending the annual sessions of ISO/ TC 34 and its sub-committees. It was also noted that ISO was working on standards for coffee.
17. Format for Codex Commodity Standards
The following draft layout, with accompanying notes on the headings, was adopted by the Executive Committee. It was recommended that this be used by the Codex Commodity Committees as a guide in presenting their standards, subject to any comments by the Codex Committee on General Principles and final approval by the Commission. This layout also included statements in a standard form which should appear under the relevant headings as appropriate. The basis for the discussion of this paper was SP 10/30 - Format, and the annexes and comments on this document.
| NAME OF THE STANDARD | |
| SCOPE | |
| DESCRIPTION | |
| COMPOSITION AND MINIMUM QUALITY REQUIREMENTS | |
| FOOD ADDITIVES | |
| CONTAMINANTS | |
| HYGIENE | |
| WEIGHTS AND MEASURES | |
| LABELLING | |
| METHODS OF ANALYSIS AND SAMPLING |
Notes on the headings
Name of the Standard
The name of the standard should be clear and as concise as possible. It should usually be the common name by which the food covered by the standard is known or, if more than one food is dealt with in the standard, by a generic name covering them all. If a fully informative title should be inordinately long, a subtitle could be added.
Scope
This section should contain a clear, concise statement as to the food or foods to which the standard was applicable unless this was self-explanatory in the name of the standard. In the case of a general standard covering more than one specific product, it should be made clear as to which specific products the standard applied.
Description
This section should contain a definition of the product or products with an indication, where appropriate, of the raw materials from which it was derived and any necessary references to processes of manufacture. It could also include references to types and styles of product and to type of pack. There could also be additional definitions when these were required to clarify the meaning of the standard.
Composition and Minimum Quality Requirements
This section should contain all quantitative and other requirements as to composition including, where necessary, identity characteristics, provisions on packing media and requirements as to compulsory and optional ingredients. It could also include quality criteria (1), such as organoleptic properties (colour, flavour, odour, texture, etc.) and tolerances for defects, such as blemishes or imperfect material.
Food Additives
This section should contain the names of the additives permitted and, where appropriate, the maximum amount permitted in the food. It should be prepared in accordance with paragraph 13 (b) of the Guidelines for Codex Committees and could take the following form:
“The following provisions in respect of food additives are subject to endorsement [have been endorsed] by the Codex Committee on Food Additives.” Then should follow a tabulation, viz: “Name of additive, (maximum) level of use (in percentage or mg/kg)”
Contaminants
If any levels for pesticide residues had been laid down by the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues for the product concerned, they should be included by reference. If any levels for other contaminants had been laid down by the Codex Committee on Food Additives, they should be included either by reference or specifically if they did not apply to food in general. [The approach suggested in the last sentence has yet to be considered by the Codex Committee on Food Additives.]
Hygiene
A reference should be made to any hygiene standard applying to the food and any specific mandatory hygiene provisions considered necessary should be included in this section. They should be prepared in accordance with paragraph 13(d) of the Guidelines for Codex Committees. Reference could be made to applicable Codes of Practice, but these references would not form a mandatory part of the standard. The following statement could also appear:
“The following provisions in respect of the food hygiene of this product are subject to endorsement [have been endorsed] by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene.”
Weights and Measures
This section should include all provisions, other than labelling provisions, relating to weights and measures, e.g. where appropriate, fill of container, weight, measure or count of units determined by an appropriate method of sampling and analysis.
Labelling
This section should refer to the General Standard on Food Labelling in the following terms:
“The provisions of the General Standard on Food Labelling apply, and the following specific provisions for this product in respect of food labelling are to be subject to endorsement [have been endorsed] by the Codex Committee on Food Labelling:
‘The name(s) of the food shall include …’ etc.”
This section should only include provisions which were exemptions from, additions to, or which were necessary for the interpretation of the General Standard in respect of the product concerned. This section should include all the labelling provisions contained in the standard. It should be prepared in accordance with paragraph 13(a) of the Guidelines for Codex Committees.
Methods of Analysis and Sampling
This section should include, either specifically or by reference, all methods of analysis and sampling considered necessary and should be prepared in accordance with paragraph 13(c) of the Guidelines for Codex Committees. The following statement should also appear:
“The methods of analysis and sampling described hereunder are international referee methods which are to be endorsed [have been endorsed] by the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling.”
18. In connection with the previous item, it was suggested by the representative of North America that a statement should appear in the Guidelines in the section relating to methods of analysis and sampling to the effect that as well as the international referee methods mentioned above, any other acceptable method which was a proven equivalent could also be used, but in the event of doubt or dispute, only the methods endorsed by the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling should be considered official. The Executive Committee asked the Secretariat to draft a suitable sentence, for presentation to the Commission at its next session and for subsequent inclusion in the Guidelines.
19. Procedure for the Elaboration of Standards for Fruit Juices
The Executive Committee was informed that at its last session the Joint ECE/Codex Alimentarius Group of Experts on the Standardization of Fruit Juices had agreed that draft standards for certain fruit juices should be sent out to governments for a second round of government comments and that draft standards for other fruit juices should be sent out to governments for a first round of comments. In the light of information furnished by the Secretariat concerning this matter, the Executive Committee was of the opinion that procedurally the draft standards which were to be sent out for a second round of government comments should be regarded as being held at Step 4 of the Codex Procedure for the Elaboration of Standards and that the draft standards which were to be sent out for a first round of comments should be regarded as being sent out at Step 3.
20. Codex Committee on Natural Mineral Waters
It was brought to the attention of the Executive Committee that the Chairman of the Codex Committee on Mineral Waters wished to hold a session of the Committee in July 1967. Under the previous Rule XII.3 this Committee has been operating satisfactorily using French and German as its languages. Although Rule XII.3 had been amended to provide for at least two of the official languages of the Commission at the meetings of its subsidiary bodies, the Chairman of the Codex Committee on Mineral Waters considered that this Committee could still operate satisfactorily in the two languages quoted above. The Secretariat wished to know how this difficulty could be overcome. The Executive Committee recommended that in drafting the invitations, governments should be informed that due to limited interest in the subject of mineral waters, French was proposed as the working language unless intending participants indicated by a given date their wish to have either English or Spanish, whichever had been selected, as the second official working language, in which case this would have to be provided. If no request was received for an official language of the Commission other than French, then the Chairman of the Committee could proceed as at the first session.
21. Step 8 of the Procedure for the Elaboration of Codex Standards
The Executive Committee's attention was drawn to the fact that in Step 8 of the Procedure for the Elaboration of World-Wide and Regional Codex Standards a consequential amendment had been overlooked which stemmed from the decision of the Commission to elaborate in place of minimum platform and trading standards only Codex Standards. The Executive Committee recommended that in Step 8 the words “of the type determined by the Commission” be deleted.
22. Recommendations of the FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Nutrition concerning Vitamins, Minerals and Dietetic Foods
The Executive Committee examined the relevant quotations from the Report of this Expert Committee. It was noted that vitamins should be treated as optional ingredients. The Executive Committee noted the remarks of the Expert Committe concerning the usage of the term “dietetic foods”. In the light of these comments a new name should probably be sought for the Codex Committee on Dietetic Foods to indicate that its Terms of Reference cover both special foods for certain individuals and also dietary foods, the use of which was connected with morbid conditions in the human body.
23. Recommendations of the FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives concerning Contaminants
The Executive Committee examined extracts from the Report of this Committee and also noted that the approach suggested, concerning a general limit with exceptions for specific products, would be considered by the Codex Committee on Food Additives.
