PROPOSED DRAFT CODEX GENERAL GUIDELINES ON SAMPLING[3] (Agenda Item 4)

6. It was noted that since the last Session of the Committee, the proposed draft guidelines had been circulated for comments and, taking into consideration the comments received, revised by a Consultant, Dr. R. Coker[4]. Dr. Coker presented the revised paper and emphasized that the main aim of the revision was to make the document more user-friendly and comprehensive.

7. After the introduction of the document, an ad hoc Working Group was convened in order to facilitate the discussion of the document. It was chaired by Dr. F. McClure of the USA and was composed of delegates from Canada, Finland, France, Hungary, The Netherlands, Norway and the USA. Dr. Coker was the rapporteur.

8. After much deliberation, the Working Group recommended to the plenary that the document should be further revised. The revised document would consist of two main parts as follows:

Part I: DISCRETE LOTS MOVING IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE

(a) Two class attributes plans for proportion of non-conforming units;

(b) Three class attributes plans (for microbiological assessments);

(c) Variables plans for proportion of non-conforming units: unknown standard deviation; and

(d) Attributes plans to detect at least one non-conforming unit in a lot.

Part II: CONTROL OF MANUFACTURING PROCESS

(a) Two class attributes plans for proportion non-conforming units (ISO 2859);

(b) Variables plans for proportion of non-conforming units: known and unknown standard deviation (ISO 3951);and

(c) Switching Rules.

9. Additional changes would include:

• Use ISO definitions throughout the document (ISO 7002 as primary source);
• Include additional AQLs (0.16, 0.4, 1.6); and
• Make a number of other changes, such as removing Section 5.1.1, “The treatment of lots of varying size” and the associated Table 7.

10. The Committee agreed that the Secretariat should arrange for the present draft guidelines to be further revised, with review assistance provided by the members who served on the ad hoc Working Group. A new revised draft should be circulated to Member Countries for comments at Step 3 well before the next Session of the Committee. This revised draft should identify potential users of the document.

11. It was also suggested that the current document with the suggested revision should be brought to the attention of the Codex Committees on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods and on Food Hygiene during their Sessions in November/December 1995, with an indication that the document is under revision, and that the revised document should be presented to the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues which will meet next year.