147. The Commission had before it the Report of the Sixth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene, introduced by Mr. S.D. Fine (U.S.A.).
148. The delegation of Ghana stressed the potential importance of the work being done by the Committee to developing countries. Although the attendance by developing countries at the meetings of the above Committee was usually rather limited, the Ghanaian delegation considered that the Committee should give urgent attention to the specific problems of developing countries in respect of hygiene. The Commission agreed that this point should be brought to the attention of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene.
149. The Commission discussed the proposal of an addition (paragraph (e)) to the terms of reference of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene. The original version of this proposal was contained on page 2, paragraph 5, of ALINORM 70/13. The proposal was revised at the 14th and 15th sessions of the Executive Committee (ALINORM 70/3 and 70/4). The following version was put before the Commission for consideration:
“The Committee may refer, where necessary, specific food hygiene problems, including, in particular, microbiological methodology and sampling, for consideration to FAO and/or WHO, to bodies set up by them and to other organizations recognized by FAO and WHO to be appropriate in respect of such reference.”
150. A number of delegations considered that such an amendment would give too great a scope to the Committee to refer matters to outside bodies without the knowledge and agreement of the Commission. The Commission agreed not to proceed with the amendment to the terms of reference but to instruct the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene to consult the Executive Committee when it wished to refer problems for study to bodies outside the normal ambit of the Commission.
151. The Commission confirmed under Rule IX.10 that the Codex Commit. tee on Food Hygiene should continue to be under the chairmanship of the Government of the United States of America.
152. The Commission had before it the Report of the Fifth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling, introduced by Dr. D.G. Chapman (Canada). The Commission noted the views of the Committee as recorded in paragraph 3 of the Committee's report, and asked the Secretariat to circulate, for the information of the Chairmen of Codex Commodity Committees, the recommendations contained in Appendix III of the Report of the Fourth Session of the Committee (ALINORM 69/22).
153. The Commission considered further the need to amend the Committee's terms of reference so that it could consider advertisements, particularly in relation to claims in labelling. The Commission agreed to the following addition to the terms of reference of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling:
“(d) to study problems associated with the advertisement of food with particular reference to claims and misleading descriptions.”
154. 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.
155. The Commission had before it the Report of the Sixth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives introduced by Dr. P. Berben (Netherlands). The Committee had requested authority to elaborate specifications of purity for sodium chloride. The Commission noted that the Executive Committee had requested the Secretariat to examine in more detail the feasibility of elaborating standards for salt and to report to a future session of the Commission. The Commission agreed that the Codex Committee on Food Additives could elaborate specifications of purity for sodium chloride but it should not give the work a high priority.
156. The progress of the work on specifications for food additives was described to the Commission. The Codex Committee on Food Additives considered that no progress could be made until all the specifications were consolidated into a single working document on which governments could be asked to comment. The Commission agreed that the Secretariat should investigate what was possible in this regard. The Commission further requested the Codex Committee on Food Additives to consider in what manner the specifications could be brought before the Commission for final approval.
157. The question was raised of the withdrawal of an endorsed additive from a completed standard. It was agreed that the Secretariat would immediately bring the recommendation to the attention of the Executive Committee in order to obtain authority to put it before Member Countries.
158. The delegation of the United Kingdom drew attention to the proposal of the Codex Committee on Food Additives to study additives in soft drinks. They saw grave dangers in the Codex Committee on Food Additives studying additives in a commodity for which there was no Codex Commodity Committee. The delegation of the United Kingdom thought that this was a point on which the Commission might need to give a directive to the Codex Committee on Food Additives. The delegation of France supported the views expressed by the delegation of the United Kingdom. The delegation of Canada pointed out that the intention of the Codex Committee on Food Additives was that this list of additives actually used in soft drinks would only be for information purposes, in order to enable the Committee to make a better estimate of the total load of food additives in the diet.
159. The Commission again emphasized that Codex Commodity Committees should carefully consider the technological need for the additives they inserted in their standards and should give a clear indication on the subject to the Codex Committee on Food Additives. The delegation of Switzerland proposed that the Commission should instruct the Codex Committee on Food Additives not to proceed with its work on flour treatment agents. The Commission decided by 18 votes to 5 with 6 abstentions not to accept the proposal of the delegation of Switzerland.
160. 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.
161. The Commission had before it the Report of the Fourth Session of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues introduced by Dr. P. Berben (Netherlands).
162. The Committee considered it essential to set up an ad hoc drafting group to consider the differences in national application of residue limits. The Commission agreed to authorize the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues to set up an ad hoc working group. Meetings of the group would be subject to:
the Directors-General being satisfied that the information required by the proposed ad hoc group was available;
the session of the group being open to all Member Countries of the Commission who wished to attend;
the Chairman of the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues and the Directors-General being satisfied that it was preferable for the points at issue to be discussed in the ad hoc working group rather than in the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues.
163. The Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues raised the question of the acceptance of pesticide residues. The Commission reaffirmed the decision taken at its sixth session that there was no question of Codex tolerances for pesticide residues applying only to imported produce. It was pointed out that Codex standards applied to pesticide residues not to the use of pesticides. A Member Country accepting a Codex residue tolerance was not thereby prohibited from controlling the use of a pesticide. It was certainly not compelled to encourage the use of a pesticide that was not required within its territories. If a pest was not present in a country's agriculture, it was not required to permit a pesticide to control such a pest. However, the tolerance for the pesticide residue concerned would apply to all food distributed within the territorial jurisdiction of the country accepting the standard. Some delegations stated that, if the Committee thought there was merit in modifying the meaning of full acceptance for pesticide residues to provide for full acceptance of a Codex standard with a larger tolerance for imported products while banning the use of the pesticide entirely or applying a lower tolerance for domestically produced products, it should set forth its views and recommendations to the Commission.
164. 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.
165. The Commission had before it the Report of the Fifth Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling which was introduced by the Chairman, Prof. R. Franck (Federal Republic of Germany).
166. The Commission agreed that section 13(c) of the Guidelines set out clearly the responsibilities of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling and the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene in respect of microbiological methods of analysis and sampling.
167. It was pointed out that the statement in respect of the amendment of the method of analysis for the determination of sulphur dioxide in sugars in paragraph 37 of the Report of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling was intended as a proposal to amend the standard, but that it was not intended to relate to the standard for white sugar (see paragraph 10(b) of the Report of the Fifth Session of the Codex Committee on Sugars, ALINORM 69/21). It was agreed that it would be necessary for the information on the collaborative studies on sugars other than white sugar (Codex/Analys/ 69/C/5) to be made available to all Member Governments and that it should be included in a paper inviting government to consider the need for an amendment to the standards for sugars other than white sugar. The United Kingdom Secretariat of the Sugars Committee was asked to prepare the paper for distribution by the FAO Secretariat and subsequently to summarize the government comments.
168. The Commission examined a proposal made by the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling to replace, in the Recommended European Regional Standard for Honey at Step 9, the method of determination of hydroxymethylfurfural content by a spectrophotometric method which had undergone adequate collaborative studies. The Commission considered that this should follow the normal practice of the relations between Commodity Committees and General Committees (Guidelines for Codex Committees, paragraph 13(c) (i) of the Procedural Manual) and therefore be returned to the originating Committee for consideration.
169. 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.
170. 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.
