74. The Commission received reports on the activities of the undermentioned international organizations in the field of food standards in line with the fact that one of the purposes of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme was to promote coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and nongovernmental organizations.
75. The Commission had before it a progress report on the activities of the Council of Europe (Partial Agreement). It noted with interest the work carried out since the last session of the Commission by the subsidiary bodies of that Organization. The Commission noted that the Sub-Committee on Poisonous Substances in Agriculture had adopted general principles for the classification of formulated pesticide products (Resolution AP (71)4). The Sub-Committee had also adopted a study on the fate of pesticides in imported cereals and was preparing a third Edition of the booklet on “Agricultural Pesticides” which dealt with information to be supplied by manufacturers intending to market new pesticides. The Sub-Committee had also considered problems connected with the safe use of pesticides in livestock premises and warehouses and other aspects, such as residues in foods and human tissues, the public health aspects of seed dressings, and the problem of disposal of surplus pesticides.
76. The Sub-Committee on the Health Control of Foodstuffs had studied two groups of food additives, i.e. emulsifiers and stabilizers, the question of the use of antibiotics in stimulating animal growth and nitrates in food and water supplies. New subjects, among others, being considered were the use of disinfectants in the food processing industry.
77. The Working Party on Flavouring Substances had drawn up lists of “artificial” and “natural” flavouring substances grouped as “admissible”, “temporarily admissible” or “not admissible” and a guide to manufacturers on the toxicological evaluation of flavouring substances, taking into consideration the reports of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Work on smoke flavours and smoke solutions was also being considered.
78. The Working Party on Packaging Materials had adopted general guidelines for toxicological evaluation of components and additives in plastic food packaging materials and had completed the evaluation of such additives. Lists of additives and components of plastic packaging materials would include an indication of acceptable residue levels in food. It was also noted that the Working Party was starting the study of heavy metal release from various types of containers.
79. The ASMO representative gave an account of the aims, objectives and activities of the above organization. The work of ASMO, whose membership was now thirteen countries, was aimed at:
80. To achieve such objectives, ASMO's activities comprised field studies in member countries, assisted by UNIDO and UNESCO, to assess the potentialities and requirements of these countries, so as to promote and develop their food standardization activities. Twelve ASMO Technical Committees had been set up to draft unified Arab Standards and recommendations for foodstuffs, food packaging and labelling. In addition, workshops and symposia had been organized on subjects such as the application of standardization, metrology and quality control. Regular annual courses on the above subjects were being conducted to train specialists and technicians from Arab countries. The representative of ASMO also stated that cooperation with the Codex Alimentarius Commission was also a way of furthering the aims of his Organization and pointed out that several of the standards and methods of analysis recommended by the Commission had been considered and adopted as ASMO standards. ASMO was now translating these standards into Arabic. The representative of ASMO drew attention to one correction to be made in the ASMO paper: a workshop to deal with quality control in food industries would be held in Cairo in March 1973 instead of in Baghdad in December 1972.
81. The particular attention of the Commission was drawn to the conclusions in the ASMO paper which were as follows:
“To consolidate the efforts of ASMO in the promotion and development of food standards and control activities in Arab countries, it is proposed that a joint FAO/ASMO programme would be initiated to realize the following:
Survey of the capabilities and requirements related to food control in Arab countries in order to identify the technical assistance required nationally or regionally.
Elaborating model legislative regulations to help Arab countries in formulating their food control laws and acts.
Organizing specialized training programmes and workshops for Arab personnel engaged in activities related to food standardization and control.
Translation into Arabic of more Recommended Codex Standards and documents which meet the requirements of the Arab countries.”
82. In regard to the first conclusion, the Secretariat pointed out that work was being done by FAO and that it was hoped that the Secretary-General of ASMO would be able to provide some assistance in connection with this work. As regards the second conclusion, the Secretariat indicated that a project was underway in the Sudan. In connection with the third conclusion, attention was drawn to the Seminar which had been held some time ago in Teheran and a further seminar is scheduled to be held in Beirut. Finally, in connection with the last conclusion, the Secretariat drew attention to the fact that it had had correspondence with the Secretary-General of ASMO following which a certain number of the Recommended Codex Standards were now being translated into Arabic.
83. The representative of the EEC gave an account of the state of work of the Community in the harmonization of food legislation. He pointed out that the aim of the EEC was to prepare uniform food legislation within the Community, to ensure a free exchange of food commodities and that, for this reason, there was a need to elaborate common standards for food. He also pointed out that once a standard had been adopted by the Council of Ministers, it was binding on Member countries of the Community. The Commission noted that the EEC had considered general regulations on dietetic foods, low sodium dietary foods, packaging materials, food irradiation, foods for infants, foods with low carbohydrate content and labelling. In the field of food additives, EEC had regulations in force on colours, preservatives and antioxidants, and other permitted lists for classes of food additives were in the course of preparation, including purity criteria for additives and methods of analysis to determine them in food. As regards standards for commodities or groups of commodities, the Community had under consideration a large number of items such as meat products, cocoa products and chocolate, confitures, food extracts, boths, soups, fruit juices, bakery products and many others. The representative of EEC also drew the attention of the Commission to the work undertaken by the Community on animal feedstuffs, pesticide residue limits in fresh fruits and vegetables (except potatoes) and grain, and also on questions of metrology (i.e. capacity of containers for liquids, tolerances for weights for solid foods, etc.), in addition to the activities of the Community indicated in the working paper ALINORM 72/7-Add.3.
84. The question was raised as to the extent to which the work of the EEC in the field of food standardization was in harmony with the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The representative of the EEC pointed out that, while Member countries of the EEC were obliged by treaty to apply standards and regulations for foods adopted by the Council of Ministers, the EEC attached the greatest importance to and considered very carefully the Recommended Codex Standards in developing Community standards, some of which were already forming the basis of draft harmonization directives.
85. The Commission received a report by the representative of CMEA on the activities of the Standing Commission of the Food Industry of CMEA. He pointed out that the work of this Commission was aimed at promoting the expansion and perfection of economic, scientific and technical cooperation and development of socialist economic integration of the Member countries of the Council. Such cooperation included, among other activities, action in the standardization of food products and unification of methods of quality testing, as well as standardization of packing and packaging, on the basis of an exchange of scientific and technical information and information of advance production experience and scientific, technological achievements, etc. The Commission of CMEA had made recommendations concerning analytical methods of testing of a variety of food commodities and quality standards for meat and meat products, milk products and canned foods. It envisaged future work on further food products, such as vegetable products, cheese, butter and canned poultry meat. Further activities were being organized in the field of food standardization and unification of methods for the control of food quality, the standardization of raw materials used in the food industry and the standardization of all types of packaging. The representative of CMEA pointed out that the recommendations of the CMEA Standing Commission were binding on its Member Countries.
86. The Commission, recognizing that a number of organizations, encompassing groups of countries, which were active in the field of food standardization, considered that it was necessary to ensure that such organizations were kept fully informed of the recommendations of the Commission on international food standards, so that these recommendations could be taken into account by these organizations. The delegate of India stressed the importance of countries adopting Codex Recommended Standards so as to facilitate export of food from developing countries. The Commission expressed its appreciation of the information given by the representative of CMEA, especially as this was the first occasion on which the CMEA had been represented at a session of the Commission.
87. The delegate of Australia drew the attention of the Commission to this Organization which considered the nomenclature of foods and was also engaged in work on methods of analysis. The Secretariat informed the Commission that it had been in contact with the above Organization.
Proposed GATT Code of Conduct for Preventing Barriers to Trade
88. The delegate of Canada drew the attention of the Commission to the proposed Code of Conduct which, as at present drafted, did not exclude food or foods subject to food standards. In his view, which was supported by the delegate of the USA, the provisions of the proposed Code were not appropriate to food laws of a mandatory nature. The Commission asked the Secretariat to bring the work of the Codex to the attention of the GATT Secretariat in order that the necessary steps could be taken to ensure that the Code did not in any way prejudice the work of the Commission or of its members in the elaboration of food laws. It asked the Executive Committee to keep the matter under review.
89. The Commission received a verbal report from the representative of ICMSF on the activities of the above Commission which was established in 1962 by the International Association of Microbiological Societies. He pointed out that ICMSF had 22 members from 14 countries selected for their expertise. Two sub-commissions had been established, one in the Latin American area and another in the Balkan-Danubian area. The establishment of other sub-commissions was under consideration. The purpose of the Commission (ICMSF) was to appraise public health aspects of foods, particularly those of international interest, and to make appropriate recommendations to aid in establishing internationally methods and guides to integration of the significance of microbiological data. He also pointed out that ICMSF had published a textbook “Microorganisms in Foods - I - Their Significance and Methods of Enumeration” and that another text would be published in 1973 entitled “Microorganisms in Foods - II - Sampling Plans for Microbiological Analysis - Principles and Specific Applications”. The representative of ICMSF also drew attention to a summary of the activities of ICMSF, its purpose, functions, mode of operations, basis for the establishment of microbiological criteria for foods and accomplishments contained in Appendix III of the report of the Ninth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene, ALINORM 72/13(A). He concluded by stating that cooperation with other international organizations was ensured through the wide interest of members of ICMSF. The Commission noted this report with great interest.
90. The representative of ISO gave an account of ISO policy in the field of agricultural food products (see ALINORM 72/7-Add.1). He pointed out that ISO was fully aware of the work done by the international organizations and especially the work done by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and that ISO in the light of this considered that it was particularly well qualified in the fields of terminology, sampling, testing and analysis and could also offer concrete assistance in product specification (including grading), packaging, storage and transportation. ISO recognized that these recommendations, which had to be implemented at the national level within the framework of regulations, could be dealt with more readily by an inter-governmental organization such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
91. As regard the policy statement, the Commission expressed its appreciation at the close cooperation which had existed for many years between ISO and the Commission, and for the valuable contribution which ISO had made in those spheres of activity in which ISO was particularly well qualified to provide technical knowledge and expertise. In particular, the Commission welcomed the contribution of ISO in the area of methods of analysis and sampling, and technical terminology in the food field. The Commission was also conscious of the important work ISO was doing in the field of packaging, storage and transportation. The Commission noted that the main purpose of the ISO policy statement, which had been adopted by the Council of ISO, was to avoid duplication of work being done in the standardization field and, more especially, to avoid duplication of work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
92. In view of the fact that (a) in most countries food standards were a matter for government regulatory agencies, and that (b) the Commission was an inter-governmental body with a current membership of 98 countries and with a specific mandate under its Statutes in the overall field of international food standards, the Commission agreed to recommend to ISO that, in the best interest of avoiding duplication of responsibility and work, it would be in the best interests of the members of both organization if ISO did not undertake the development of international food standards, but rather, so far as ISO's collaboration with the Commission was concerned, concentrated its efforts in those areas of activity, such as those mentioned above, which were complementary to the Commission's work, and which the Commission valued so greatly.
93. The Commission noted that ISO had done a considerable amount of work on specifications for spices and condiments. The Commission invited ISO to consider sending these specifications to the Commission at the appropriate time, for action through the Codex machinery.
94. The Commission noted with great interest the progress which had been made by ISO/TC 34 as set out in the paper which it had prepared for the Commission and expressed its appreciation for the valuable assistance which was being given to the Commission especially in the field of methods of analysis and sampling and welcomed the supporting and complementary activities which the ISO representative outlined in his statement.
95. The Chairman of the AOAC Committee on International Cooperation (Dr. D.G. Chapman) informed the Commission that the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) had set up a Committee on International Cooperation with the specific purpose of cooperating at an international level with other organizations engaged in the establishment of standard methods of analysis. He pointed out that, as a number of AOAC methods had been endorsed by the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling, it would be desirable that close cooperation be established with the AOAC Committee. The Commission accepted Dr. Chapman's offer to prepare a working paper for the next session of the Commission on the work of the AOAC Committee on International Cooperation.
