Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Codex News Item, 14 July 2021
Hosted by the United States, the meeting is running from 12 to 16 July 2021 and has so far discussed several items from a full programme of business. The committee has heard concerns regarding carryover in feed and transfer from feed to food of unavoidable and unintended residues of approved veterinary drugs. Delegates concluded that the provisions in the current Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding (CXC 54-2004) already provide sufficient advice to Codex Members on unintended carryover of residues of drugs and feed. The meeting did however support additional recommendations relating to strengthening countries’ capacities to implement this Code of practice.
A primary function of this committee is to propose maximum residue limits (MRLs) for veterinary drugs in foods which are then established as international standards by Codex. MRLs represent the maximum concentration residue that is recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission to be legally permitted in or on food. On day two of its session the committee agreed on MRLs for flumethrin in honey, MRLs for diflubenzuron in salmon; halquinol in swine and ivermectin in sheep, pigs and goats.
The committee has once again extensively discussed MRLs for zilpaterol but at the end of the third day of the meeting there has so far been no agreement on how to find consensus.
