Codex Report (ALINORM 09/32/40), 26 – 29 January 2009

CODEX – Coordinating Committee for the Near East (5 th Session), Tunis, Tunisia

The Fifth Session of the Coordinating Committee for the Near East Region reached the following conclusions:

Matters for consideration by the 32nd session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission

The Committee:

• The Committee noted several good practices conducted and reported by members of the Region in the implementation of these activities such as weekly or monthly meetings of a steering committee in addition to the National Codex Committee where all stakeholders were invited to participate. (see paras 11 – 14 and 19 – 20).
• Unanimously agreed to recommend to the 32nd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission that Tunisia be reappointed as the Regional Coordinator for the Near East (see para.60).

Matters for consideration by other committees

Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission

• The Committee agreed that project documents for new work on regional standards for Pomegranate, Harissa (hot pepper paste) and Halwa Tehenia (halwa shamia) will be created by members and forwarded to the Executive Committee for critical review (paras 34, 41 and 44).

Codex Committee on General Principles

• The Committee concluded that the terms of reference of all coordinating committees should remain unchanged (see para. 18).

Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products

• The Committee agreed to bring the issue of packaging and transport of fresh fish to the Committee on Fish and Fishery Products (see paras 35 - 37).

Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products

The Committee agreed that Doogh and other drinks known in the region fell under the scope of the revised draft Standard for Fermented Milks and any specific characteristics for such drinks could be addressed by the Committee on Milk and Milk Products during the revision of the above Standard. The Committee also agreed to urge the CCMMP to finish this revision as soon as possible (see paras 32 and 67).

Matters of interest to the Codex Alimentarius Commission

The Coordinating Committee:

• Expressed its appreciation to FAO and WHO for their work in the area of capacity building and scientific advice which provided a solid basis for the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (see paras 21-27);
• Agreed to circulate the proposed draft code of practice for street-vended foods at step 3 for comments (see para 30 and Appendix II);
• Exchanged updated information on national food control systems and consumer participation in food standard setting, use of Codex standards at national and regional level and nutritional issues in the region (see paras 45-48);
• Agreed to develop project documents for new work on regional standards for camel milk, date paste and date molasses (see paras 64 and 65) and discussion papers on difficulties faced in the region when implementing Codex standards (see paras 54 and 62) and on classification of foods based on risks (see para. 66); and
• Noted the usefulness of the INFOSAN system and agreed that information on this system as well as the implementation status of the international health regulations should be a standing item under the information provided by FAO and WHO (see para 73).
• Noted the willingness of several delegations to provide Arabic translations of Codex texts and decided that any translations provided should be checked within the region for terminology through the Coordinator and then submitted to the Codex Secretariat for uploading on the Codex website.