76. The Commission had before it the Report of the Third Session of the Codex Committee on General Principles.
77. The Commission decided not to deal with the question of a general standard at its present session, but to consider it at its next session. The Secretariat was asked to prepare a comprehensive paper including the comments received from Governments. Member Governments who had not already commented on the idea of a general standard were asked to do so not later than 1 September 1969.
78. The Commission confirmed under Rule IX.10 that the Codex Committee on General Principles should continue to be under the chairmanship of the Government of France.
79. The Commission had before it the Report of the Fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling, introduced by Dr. D.G. Chapman (Canada). The question was raised whether the terms of reference of this Committee should be amended, so that the Committee could consider advertisements in relation to claims in labelling. It was suggested that this might be done by amending (c) of the Committee's terms of reference to read ‘to study specific labelling and other related problems assigned to it by the Commission’. It was agreed to consider this question further at the next session of the Commission; it was further agreed that it would be advisable to hold the next session of the Committee in Rome immediately before the next session of the Commission, in order to endorse labelling provisions in standards proposed by Commodity Committees, if this could be arranged with the Canadian Government.
80. The Commission confirmed under Rule IX.10 that the Codex Committee on Food Labelling should continue to be under the chairmanship of the Government of Canada.
81. The Commission had before it the Report of the Fifth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene, introduced by Mr. J.K. Kirk, US delegation. Since the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene would be considering microbiological procedures for the examination of foods in the near future, the delegation of the USA stressed the need for attendance by delegates familiar with techniques in food microbiology. The representative of WHO gave some information on the work of WHO in the field of food microbiology and also gave a short report on the work already done by the International Committee on Microbiological Specifications for Foods in this field.
82. The Commission confirmed under Rule IX.10 that the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene should continue to be under the chairmanship of the Government of the USA.
83. The Commission received a report from Dr. P. Berben (Netherlands). The Commission confirmed that the irradiation of food fell within the scope of activities of the Codex Committee on Food Additives. With regard to questions concerning the nutritional aspects of food additives, the Commission agreed that the Codex Committee on Food Additives should consider such matters. The Commission considered the General Principles for the Use of Food Additives (Appendix II to ALINORM 69/12) and noted that further government comments would be required on them. The Commission decided to defer further consideration of the definitions of ‘food additive’, ‘contaminant’ and ‘process’ until its next session and to request further government comments on them. The Commission noted the request of the Codex Committee on Food Additives that the responsibility for the elaboration of specifications for substances listed in Codex standards not falling within the definition of food additives, such as salt, modified protein, fish protein concentrate, should be clarified. It was agreed that, if the Codex Committee on Food Additives wished to consider any substance not clearly within its terms of reference, it should first seek the approval of the Commission. With regard to the intake of food additives, the Commission took note of the WHO computer programme for the estimation of such intake and agreed that such information was essential in order that the Codex Committee on Food Additives may carry out its work effectively. Governments were asked to supply relevant food intake data.
84. The Commission confirmed under Rule IX.10 that the Codex Committee on Food Additives should continue to be under the chairmanship of the Government of the Netherlands.
85. The Commission received a report from Dr. P. Berben (Netherlands). The delegation of Canada informed the Commission that its government would act as host to an ad hoc drafting group meeting to consider general principles for the establishment of Codex tolerances and other related matters. The report of this drafting group would be submitted to the next session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues. The Commission agreed that there was no question under the General Principles of the Codex Alimentarius of Codex tolerances for pesticide residues applying only to imported produce. The delegation of Canada also emphasized the desirability of those countries considering the development of or amendment to national pesticide residue tolerances to make the fullest use of the work of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues.
86. With regard to pesticide residues in animal feeds, the Commission agreed that this problem warranted consideration by the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues, but that an additional session of the FAO Working Party on Pesticide Residues to study this matter was not of high priority at this time.
87. With regard to the establishment of reference methods of analysis for pesticide residues, the Commission agreed that closer collaboration with IUPAC was desirable and that the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues should take steps to achieve this.
88. The Commission emphasized the importance of expediting the work on pesticide residues.
89. The Commission confirmed under Rule IX.10 that the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues should continue to be under the chairmanship of the Government of the Netherlands.
90. The Commission had before it the report of the Fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling, which was introduced by the Chairman, Prof. R. Franck (Federal Republic of Germany).
91. Following a recommendation made by the Executive Committee, the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling had revised the General Principles for the Establishment of Codex Methods of Analysis. These appeared as Appendix V to ALINORM 69/23. The Canadian delegation raised the question of methods which, according to the Procedural Manual (page 49) could be regarded as alternative if they had been proved to be equivalent by the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling, and proposed to revise this text by replacing “proved” by “judged”. The Commission decided to examine this question in more detail at its next session should it appear to be necessary. The Commission agreed with the General Principles without amendment and that they should be included in the next edition of the Procedural Manual.
92. The Commission considered the proposal for a standard layout of Codex methods of analysis and decided that this layout should be circulated to Codex Commodity Committees for their information but that it should not be printed in the Procedural Manual.
93. The attention of the Commission was drawn to paragraph 99 of the report, where the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling suggested that the Commission establish a small group for drawing up a plan for the uniform numbering and layout of all Codex documents. It was decided that the Secretariat of the Commission, in collaboration with the Secretariat of the Codex committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling, should consult the Chairmen of the Codex commodity committees on this matter and submit recommendations to the next session of the Commission.
94. The Commission confirmed under Rule IX.10 that the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling should continue to be under the chairmanship of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany.
