122. The Commission decided to consider as a separate matter the question of the suitability of the Sampling Plans for Prepackaged Foods (ALINORM 69/27) in respect of the foods for which standards had been adopted at Step 9 or were before the Commission at Step 8. The Commission noted that the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling at its fifth session had not endorsed the proposed use of the Sampling Plans in the standards before the Commission at Step 8. However, at its fourth session, the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling had endorsed the use of the Sampling Plans in a number of standards for processed fruits and vegetables at Step 9. The Committee had expressed the opinion that the Sampling Plans did not appear to be suitable for enforcement purposes although not all Codex Commodity Committees had had an opportunity to express an opinion on the suitability of the Sampling Plans for the foods for which they were elaborating standards. The Danish delegation informed the Commission of the views of a Working Group of the Danish National Codex Committee. It was agreed that a paper which had been prepared by this Working Group should be sent to the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling and also that information copies should be made available to ISO/TC 34.
123. A number of delegations expressed views in accordance with the conclusions of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling and, in particular, that the Sampling Plans appeared to be more suitable for production quality control rather than enforcement purposes. The delegation of the U.S.A. informed the Commission that for many years Sampling Plans such as those contained in ALINORM 69/27 had been used satisfactorily for enforcement purposes in the U.S.A. In particular the Sampling Plans were quite appropriate for the checking of quality criteria and quality defects in products such as processed fruits and vegetables, fruit juices and other similar canned foods. The delegation of the U.S.A. further thought it would be essential that Codex Commodity Committees should be responsible for determining acceptance quality levels (AQL).
124. The Commission noted that Sampling Plans based on a 95% probability were available with AQLs from 0.15% to 15%, but the delegation of Canada pointed out that, in its opinion, this was not the correct statistical approach to the problem for enforcement purposes. Several delegations expressed doubt as to the suitability of the Sampling Plans in ALINORM 69/27 for all prepackaged foods and considered that it would be essential for Codex Commodity Committees to examine these plans with particular reference to determining appropriate AQLs for quality criteria and quality defects in individual foods. In addition, it was generally agreed that such plans might not be applicable to other criteria such as identity characteristics and health or safety criteria, e.g. pesticide residues and food additives, and that different appropriate sampling plans might be required for enforcement control of such criteria.
125. The Commission agreed that in the case of the standards at Step 8 containing provisions relating to the Sampling Plans, these provisions should not be amended. The Commission decided to request the Executive Committee to consider at its next session whether or not a special session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis should be convened to examine the whole question of the Sampling Plans or whether any other action should be taken in the light of the observations of Codex Commodity Committees and their recommendations concering appropriate AQLs.
