54. The Committee recalled that its 29th Session had not been able to endorse the hygiene provisions in the draft standards for certain milk and milk products. In the light of widely divergent opinions expressed at the 22nd Session of the Commission, the question of including a reference to pasteurization or alternative measures in the milk products standards was referred back to the Committee on Food Hygiene with request to address this issue as a matter of high priority.
55. The Committee was informed that the Working Group which had met prior to the Session had not been able to reach consensus and that three proposals made by Denmark, France and IDF had been put forward as possible interim language, in order to facilitate the adoption of the standards. The proposals from Denmark and IDF referred to pasteurization or alternative combined measures to achieve the appropriate level of public health protection, while the proposal from France referred only to the relevant codes of practice.
56. The Committee had an extensive discussion on the need to add further requirements over and above the new common hygiene provisions agreed upon under Agenda Item 18. The Delegation of France, supported by several delegations, expressed the view that the standard should contain only general hygiene provisions, as defined in Section K of the Procedural Manual, and that matters concerning food safety should be addressed in the relevant Codes of Hygienic Practice.
57. The Delegation of the United States, supported by other delegations, pointed out that no reference should be made to documents which were still under development; as no code of practice existed as yet for the milk products under consideration, it was necessary to include appropriate hygiene requirements in the standards. The Delegation also stressed that the hygiene requirements should not focus on pasteurization as such but on the appropriate level of health protection.
58. The Delegation of Canada proposed to mention pasteurization as an example of the sanitary measures to be applied and to use the current wording of the general hygiene provisions to specify the outcome of such measures. Although some delegations supported this proposal, the Committee agreed that no reference should be made to the hygiene provisions of the current standards, as it had been decided to revise them thoroughly under Agenda Item 18 (see paragraphs 49-53).
59. Several delegations expressed the view that the whole process of production should be taken into consideration and that pasteurization should not be presented as the essential reference measure; a combination of control measures should be applied to ensure the safety of the final product. After an extensive exchange of views, the Committee agreed to stress the importance of control measures at all stages of the food chain, from primary production to consumption, and to mention pasteurization as an example of the measures that could be taken.
60. In order to reflect this consensus, the Committee agreed to the following wording, as proposed by the Delegation of the United Kingdom:
From raw material production to the point of consumption, the products covered by this standard should be subject to a combination of control measures, which may include, for example, pasteurization, and these should be shown to achieve the appropriate level of public health protection.
STATUS OF THE CONSIDERATION OF HYGIENE PROVISIONS OF CERTAIN MILK, AND MILK PRODUCTS STANDARDS
61. The Committee agreed that the food hygiene provisions in the draft standards for milk and milk products under consideration should include 1) the first paragraph of the revised general Food Hygiene Provisions, 2) the above paragraph and 3) the second paragraph of the general Provisions. The Committee noted that the draft standards for milk and milk products under consideration would be submitted to the 23rd Session of the Commission for adoption. The complete Hygiene Provisions are attached as Appendix VII.
