10. The Committee was informed that the Commission at its 22nd Session had adopted the Statements of Principle Relating to the Role of Food Safety Risk Assessment and the Definitions of Risk Analysis Terms Related to Food Safety[8] and that these texts were now included in the Tenth Edition of the Procedural Manual. The Commission had considered the recommendations of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on Risk Management and requested those Codex Committees dealing with food safety to consider recommendations 2 to 6 of the Consultation[9] and to propose action as necessary[10].
11. The Committee considered recommendations 2-5[11] and generally supported these recommendations. It noted that it had been in a process of implementing risk analysis in its work and it would continue this practice. It was emphasized that in addition to long-term exposure, it would soon initiate work on risk analysis of acute exposure.
12. The Committee also noted that the Commission had agreed to an Action Plan to implement risk management in Codex, initial steps of which were the considerations of the definitions for risk assessment policy and risk profile, and the development of integrated principles for risk management and risk assessment policy setting to be undertaken by the Codex Committee on General Principles. The Committee agreed to take necessary actions once the principles had been established.
13. The Committee was informed that a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultation on the Application of Risk Communication was held 2-6 February 1998 at the Italian Ministry of Health in Rome. The Consultation was the third in a series of consultations examining the broad implications of risk analysis, particularly for the Commission. The objectives of the Consultation included the identification of elements and guiding principles, barriers and strategies for effective risk communication as well as the development of practical recommendations to FAO, WHO, Member Governments, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, other international and national organizations, industry and consumers to improve risk communication among risk assessers, managers and those affected by the risk, especially consumers. The report would be available to the next Session of the Committee.
