Food Law News - FAO/WHO/WTO/Codex - 2006

1 – 5 May 2006

CODEX - Committee on Food Labelling (34th Session), Ottawa, Canada

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The summary and conclusions of the 34th Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labelling are as follows:

Matters for adoption by the 29th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission:

The Committee:

• agreed to advance to Step 8 the Draft Amendment to the Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labelling and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods: Annex 2 - Permitted Substances: Table 3 (para. 60, Appendix II);
• agreed to advance to Step 5 of the Accelerated Procedure the Proposed Draft Definition of Trans Fatty Acids (Proposed Draft Amendment to the Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling) (para. 135, Appendix V);
• agreed to undertake new work on 1) the inclusion of ethylene in the Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labelling and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods (para. 77) and 2) the definition of advertising in relation to nutrition and health claims (para. 146).

Other Matters of Interest to the Commission

The Committee:

• agreed to return to Step 6 the Draft Amendment to the Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labelling and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods: Annex 2 – Permitted Substances: Table 3 (other substances) (para. 60, Appendix III), and to return to Step 3 the Proposed Draft Amendment to Table 1 on Natural Sodium Nitrate (para. 66, Appendix IV);
• agreed to return to Step 3 the Proposed Draft Amendment to the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods: Quantitative Declaration of Ingredients (para. 122, Appendix VI);
• endorsed the labelling provisions in several Draft Standards and did not endorse the labelling provisions in the Draft Standards on individual cheeses (paras. 34-48);
• agreed to retain at Step 7 the Draft Amendment to the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods (Draft Recommendations for the Labelling of Foods Obtained through Certain Techniques of Genetic Modification/Genetic Engineering): Definitions and at Step 4 the Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Labelling of Food and Food Ingredients Obtained through Certain Techniques of Genetic Modification/Genetic Engineering: Labelling Provisions, for further consideration at the next session taking into account the outcome of a physical working group (paras. 100-101);
• discussed how to proceed further with the implementation of the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health as related to food labelling and related matters, within the mandate of the Committee (paras. 14-33).