Codex Alimentarius Commission adopts more than 50 new food standards
New guidelines on genetically modified and irradiated food
Rome , 9 July 2003 -- The Codex
Alimentarius Commission has
adopted a landmark agreement on
how to assess the risks to consumers
from foods derived from biotechnology,
including genetically modified
foods, FAO and the World Health
Organization (WHO) said today.
Altogether, the Commission adopted
more than 50 new food safety and
quality standards, some of which are
revisions of old standards. The
Commission adopted ground-breaking
guidelines for assessing the food
safety risks posed by foods derived
from biotechnology.
Food safety and genetically modified food
These guidelines lay out broad
general principles intended to make
the analysis and management of
risks related to foods derived from
biotechnology uniform across
Codex's 169 member countries. The
guidelines concern food safety and
not environmental risks.
Provisions of the guidelines
include pre-market safety evaluations
and product tracing for recall
purposes and post-market monitoring.
The guidelines cover the scientific
assessment of DNA-modified
plants, such as maize, soy or potatoes,
and foods and beverages
derived from DNA-modified microorganisms,
including cheese,
yoghurt and beer. They include provisions
for assessing the product's
allergenicity, determining if the
product may provoke unexpected
allergies in consumers.
“These guidelines are a very
important step towards understanding
the risks associated with foods
derived from biotechnology,” said
Alan Randell, Secretary of the
Codex Commission. “Now, any
country, regulatory body or other
organization or individual will be
able to compare the risk assessments
of a given food derived from
biotechnology with the assessments
done by other countries. As long as
the science is sound, each country
wishing to use or introduce a given
food derived from biotechnology
will not have to redo the analysis, but
can move directly to deciding how to
manage the marketing of that food.
Consumers can be assured that foods
assessed by these methods are fit to
eat,” he said.
Irradiated food
The Commission also adopted a
new standard for irradiated foods
that accepts higher levels of radiation
on food products. Food is irradiated
to make it safe for longer periods
of time. The process, which uses
gamma ray irradiation, kills bacteria,
increasing the food products' shelf
life. The Commission determined
that allowing higher levels of irradiation
would eliminate bacterial
spores and the radiation resistant
pathogenic bacteria Clostridium botulinum.
The process also reduces the
need to use more toxic chemical
methods of combating bacteria,
some of which can be harmful to the
environment.
“This is a really important breakthrough,”
Randell said. “For the consumer
it means a potential for higher
levels of food safety because of the
protection offered by food irradiation.
For example, it can be applied
to spices, which can carry bacteria
resistant to other treatments.
Irradiated foods are proven safe and
do not contain any radioactive
traces.”
Responding to consumer concerns
about meat, the Commission adopted
standards that will improve the safety
of meat by establishing principles
of meat hygiene. A Code of Practice
on good animal feeding calls for
stricter and more systematic controls
over sources of contamination.
Cocoa in chocolate
Codex adopted new quality standards
for many food items. For
example, consumers will soon note
the amount of cocoa in chocolate and
chocolate products will determine
when the term “chocolate” can be
used. The new standard sets a minimum
35 per cent of cocoa solids in
products marketed as “chocolate”
and a minimum 20 per cent in
“chocolate type” products, such as
“chocolate flakes”. The new standard
requires the minimum cocoa
content to be clearly marked on the
packaging of all chocolate flavoured
products.
“The Commission made some
very important decisions for food
safety. The most important of these
was to extend food safety systems to
small and medium-sized enterprises,
especially in developing countries.
This will help these small businesses
produce safe food for consumers and
improve their prospects for trade,”
said Alan Randell.
The Commission examined its
own structures and procedures to
speed up its work and make it more
open to developing countries and
international non-governmental
organizations. Additionally WHO
and FAO requested Codex to better
prioritize its requests for scientific
advice, which is provided by
FAO/WHO expert bodies. FAO and
WHO will strengthen their efforts in
providing the science as the basis for
Codex standards in a timely manner.
FAO and WHO further called on
developed countries to contribute to
the Codex Trust Fund to help
increase participation by developing
countries in the standard-setting
process(…)
The Codex Alimentarius
Commission is the highest international
body on food standards. The
Commission is a subsidiary body of
FAO and WHO. Codex Alimentarius
means “food code” and is the compilation
of all the Standards, Codes of
Practice, Guidelines and
Recommendations of the Codex
Alimentarius Commission. Codex
has 169 member countries. The 26th
session was attended by delegates
from 127 of the member countries,
the most ever to attend a Codex session.
Codex Alimentarius website:
http://www.codexalimentarius.net
Erwin Northoff, FAO Information Officer,
Erwin.northoff@fao.org
Gregory Hartl, WHO Media Advisor,
hartl@who.int
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