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Matters of Interest to the 24th Session of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission and Other Codex Committees:
- Agreed the scope of the Code to cover the entire feed chain and include
provisions for grazing or free-range feeding and for on-farm production
in addition to provisions for processing, distribution, storage and
use of compound feedingstuffs (para. 27);
- Agreed that the primary purpose of the Code was the protection of
consumers' health, in particular food safety issues (para. 28);
- Agreed that issues of animal health relating to food safety were
of significant importance and noted the linkages that existed with other
Codex Codes of Practice in the area of meat hygiene, aquaculture, food
hygiene and application of the HACCP system and the work of the OIE
on zoonoses (para. 28);
- Noted that issues relating to animal welfare (other than food safety
related animal health issues) did not fall within the mandate of the
Commission and hence not within the Terms of Reference of the Task Force
(para. 28);
- Agreed to include special provisions relating to "traceability" in
the Code especially in reference to good manufacturing practices for
the production, distribution and use of feedingstuffs (para. 32);
- Agreed to include provisions for the labelling of feedingstuffs as
part of good manufacturing practice and risk management in view of the
need for adequate labelling within the framework of traceability (para.
33);
- Agreed to make references to official inspection and control procedures
and self-regulation (auto control), taking into account recommendations
already adopted and published by the Commission (para. 34);
- Agreed to contain a provision that "additives should be assessed
for safety and approved under stated conditions for use" and there should
be delineation between feed materials and additives and between additives
and veterinary medicines so as to avoid misuse (para. 44);
- Agreed to request information on lists established by different governments
to control the use of prohibited and undesirable substances in animal
feedingstuffs or other approaches and accepted the offer of FAO to establish
an Internet Conference site on the FAO Website to further develop the
debate on this issue (para. 49);
- Agreed to convene an open-ended meeting immediately before the next
Session of the Task Force to consider the replies to the Circular Letter
and the outcome of the Internet Conference and report its findings to
the Task Force (para. 49);
- Agreed to compile a list of internationally available standard and
validated methods for the examination of feedingstuffs by the Secretariat
and suggested that reference be made to these internationally accepted
methods and to sampling procedures at an appropriate point in the revised
Code (para. 56);
- Agreed to inform the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling
of its present debate as it noted that CCMAS had established criteria
for the use of such methods internationally (para. 56); and,
- Agreed to develop a revised text of the Proposed Draft Code by the
Danish and Codex Secretariats to be distributed to governments and interested
international organizations for comments at Step 3 and the revised text
and the compiled comments would form the basis of discussion at its
next Session (para. 70).
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