Codex Report (ALINORM 09/32/12), 16-20 March 2009

CODEX – Committee on Food Additives (41 st Session), Shanghai, China

The Forty-first Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives reached the following conclusions:

MATTERS FOR ADOPTION/CONSIDERATION BY THE 32ND SESSION OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION:

Draft and proposed draft Standards and Related Texts for adoption at steps 8 or 5/8

The Committee forwarded:

• Draft and proposed draft food additive provisions of the General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA), for adoption at Step 8 and 5/8, respectively (para. 109 and Appendix IV);
• Proposed draft amendments to the International Numbering System for Food Additives, for adoption at Step 5/8 (para. 125 and Appendix VII); and
• Proposed draft Specifications for the Identity and Purity of Food Additives, for adoption at Step 5/8 (para. 131 and Appendix VIII).

Other Matters for adoption

The Committee forwarded:

• Amendment to the Annex to Table 3 of the GFSA to include the following footnote: “Acidity regulators, packaging gases, stabilizers and thickeners listed in Table 3 are acceptable for use in fermented milks, heat treated after fermentation, as defined in the Codex Standard for Fermented Milks (CODEX STAN 243-2004) that correspond to food category 01.2.1.2 “Fermented milks (plain), heat treated after fermentation” (para. 9);
• Amendments to the names and descriptors of the GSFA food categories 01.2.1.1 “Fermented milks (plain), not heattreated after fermentation”, 15.1 “Snacks-potato, cereal, flour or starch based (from roots and tubers, pulses and legumes)” and 15.2 “Processed nuts, including coated nuts and nut mixtures (with e.g. dried fruit)” (para. 153 and Appendix XI).

Codex Standard and Related Texts for revocation

The Committee agreed to request the 32nd Session of the Commission to revoke:

• Food additive provisions of the GSFA (para. 109 and Appendix V).

Proposals for the Elaboration of New Standards and Related Texts

The Committee agreed to submit to the 32nd session of the Commission, through the 62nd session of the Executive Committee, for approval:

• Priority List of Food Additives, proposed for Evaluation by JECFA (para. 135 and Appendix IX).

Other Matters for information by the 32nd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission

The Committee agreed:

• To discontinue work on a number of draft and proposed draft food additive provisions of the GSFA (Appendix VI);
• To return the proposed draft Guidelines and Principles for Substances Used as Processing Aids (N04-2008) to Step 2 (para. 113);
• To include a number of new food additive provisions at Step 3 and 4 in the GSFA (various paras).

ENDORSEMENT AND/OR REVISION OF MAXIMUM LEVEL FOR FOOD ADDITIVES AND PROCESSING AIDS IN CODEX STANDARDS

The Committee:

• Endorsed with some editorial amendments the majority of food additive provisions forwarded by the Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables, on Nutrition and Food for Special Dietary Uses, on Fats and Oils and by the FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Asia (para. 33 and Appendix III);
• Agreed to inform commodity committees of the practice not to endorse provisions at a level of GMP for food additives with a numerical ADI (para. 34).

In particular, the Committee:

Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables (CCPFV)

• Draft Standards for Jams, Jellies and Marmalades
  • Endorsed the provisions as proposed, except the provision for grape skin extract (INS 163(ii)) that was endorsed at a maximum level of 500 mg/kg; and for the Section on Flavourings that was endorsed with inclusion of a reference to the Guidelines for the Use of Flavourings (CAC/GL 66-2008) (paras 36-45);
  • Did not agree to assign a new “preservative” technological purpose to ascorbic acid (INS 300), due to the fact that ascorbic acid did not prevent the growth of microorganisms but acts mainly as a colour preserving/retention agent in jams, jellies and marmalade (para. 118);
• Draft Standard for Certain Canned Vegetables
  • Endorsed the provisions as proposed, except the provision for caramel III (INS 150c), proposed at GMP, since it has a numerical ADI; and the maximum level in caramel IV (INS 150d), which was endorsed at a maximum level of 50000 mg/kg (paras 46-47);

Committee on Nutrition and Food for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU)

• Advisory List of Nutrient Compounds for Use in Foods for Special Dietary Use by Infants and Young Children (CAC/GL 10-1979)
  • Endorsed the proposed level of 10 mg/kg for gum arabic (INS 414) for use as a carrier (para. 50);

FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Asia (CCASIA)

• Proposed Draft Regional Standard for Fermented Soybean Paste
  • Endorsed the provisions as proposed, except the provision for monopotassium tartrate (INS 336(i)), proposed at GMP, since it has a numerical ADI. The Committee agreed to request the CCASIA to provide a numerical maximum level for this substance (paras 51-52);
• Proposed Draft Regional Standard for Edible Sago Flour
  • Endorsed the provisions as proposed, except the provision of 2500 mg/kg (treatment level) for chlorine dioxide (INS 926) (paras 53-55);

Committee on Fats and Oils (CCFO)

• Endorsed all revised provisions in fats and oils standards, as proposed (para. 56).

MATTERS REFERRED TO CODEX COMMITTEES AND TASK FORCES

The Committee agreed that:

• Commodity committees should be fully informed of amendments to section of food additives of the Format for Codex Commodity Standards and Relations between Commodity Committees and General Subject Committees, which were adopted by the 31st Session of the Commission, and thus facilitating the future integration of food additive provisions in commodity standards into the GSFA (para. 11).

OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST

Working Groups

The Committee agreed to establish:

Physical Working Group

• GSFA: to facilitate consideration of food additive provisions of the GSFA (Chair: United States of America) (paras 105 and 107);

Electronic Working Groups:

• Guidelines and Principles on Substances used as Processing Aids: to prepare revised proposed draft Guidelines and Principles (Host: Indonesia) (para. 113);
• INS: to consider the replies to the CL requesting proposals for changes/addition to the INS list and prepare a proposal for circulation for comments at Step 3; to prepare a discussion paper containing principles regarding the need for justification for proposals of changes to the INS; information on use as food additives of salts of fatty acids (INS 470) and aluminium sulfate (INS 520); and to address the inconsistency of the name of riboflavin, synthetic (INS 101(i)) (Host: Finland) (para. 123);
• Inconsistent presentation of food additive provisions in codex commodity standards: to prepare a revised discussion paper (Host: Switzerland) (para. 156).

Matters to be considered by the 42nd CCFA

The Committee:

• Agreed that it would reconsider the level for chlorine dioxide for food category 06.2.1 of the GSFA and advise the CCASIA accordingly (para. 55);
• Decided to clarify whether sago flour was covered by food category 06.2.1 “Flours” and if the descriptor of the food category should be revised at its next session (para. 154).

Others

The Committee:

• Agreed to request JECFA to consider including in the relevant specifications as synonyms the names for some food additives; to discuss and consider the possibility of aligning the names used by JECFA with those in the INS system for some food additives; to discuss the appropriate naming of citrates (INS 333(iii)); and to recommend that JECFA carefully consider the names of compounds listed in the INS for use in the specifications and, when they were considered not to be appropriate, to clearly indicate the reasons in order to facilitate follow-up actions by the Committee (paras 159-160, 162-163).