Codex Report (ALINORM 10/33/13), 16 – 20 November 2009

CODEX – Report of the Committee on Food Hygiene (41st Session), San Diego, United States of America

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

MATTERS FOR ADOPTION BY THE 33RD SESSION OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION:

The Committee:

• agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Annex on Leafy Green Vegetables Including Leafy Herbs to the Code of Hygienic Practice for Fresh Fruit and Vegetables for adoption at Step 5/8 (see ALINORM 10/33/13 para. 85 and Appendix II);
• agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Code of Hygienic Practice for Pathogenic Vibrio spp. in Seafood for adoption at Step 5/8 (see ALINORM 09/32/13 para. 70 and Appendix III);
• agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Annex on Control Measures for Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus in Molluscan Shelfish for adoption at Step 5/8 (see ALINORM 10/33/13 para. 98 and Appendix IV); and
• agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Risk Analysis Principles and Procedures Applied by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene for adoption (see ALINORM 10/33/13 para. 150 and Appendix VII).

MATTERS FOR ACTION BY THE COMMISSION

NEW WORK

Agreed to propose to the Commission to approve new work on the revision of the:

• Recommended International Code of Hygienic Practice for Collecting, Processing and Marketing of Natural Mineral waters (CAC/RCP 33-1985) (see ALINORM 10/33/13, paras 129-132 and Appendix V); and
• Proposed Revision of Principles for the Establishment and Application of Microbiological Criteria for Foods (CAC/GL 21-1997) (see ALINORM 10/33/13, paras 133-137 and Appendix VI).

MATTERS OF INTEREST TO THE COMMISSION AND/OR TO FAO/WHO

The Committee:

• agreed to inform the Commission that it had considered the hygiene provisions in the Draft Code of Hygienic Practice for Fish and Fishery products (Sections on Lobsters and Crabs) and the Draft Standard for Sturgeon Caviar at Step 8 and endorsed them (ALINORM 10/33/13, paras 8-12).
• renamed the title of the Proposed Draft Code of Hygienic Practice for Control of Viruses in Food (N07- 2009) to the Guidelines on the Application of General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Viruses in Food) (ALINORM 10/33/13, para. 119);
• agreed to request FAO/WHO to implement an expert meeting with a view to constructing more applicable models for wide use among countries with the terms of reference as outlined in para. 110 of ALINORM 10/33/13.

MATTERS OF INTEREST TO OTHER COMMITTEES

Committee on Fish and Fishery Products

The Committee endorsed the hygiene provisions in the Draft Code of Hygienic Practice for Fish and Fishery Products (Sections on Lobsters and Crabs) and the Draft Standard for Sturgeon Caviar as Step 8 (ALINORM 10/33/13, paras 8-12).

The Committee noted that the CCFFP would meet in April 2011 and therefore agreed to consider the endorsement of the hygiene provisions of the Proposed Draft Standard for Smoked Fish, Smoke- Flavoured Fish and Smoke-Dried Fish and the Proposed Draft Standard for Fish Sauce at its next session (ALINORM 10/33/13, paras 9-12).

Committee on General Principles

The Committee agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Risk Analysis Principles and Procedures Applied by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene to the 33rd Session of the Commission for adoption and subsequent inclusion in Section VI of the Codex Alimentarius Procedural Manual (ALINORM 10/33/13, paras 139 - 150). The Committee noted that some inconsistencies might exist between the main document on CCFH Risk Analysis Principles and Procedures and Annex on the Process by Which the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene Will Undertake its Work and agreed to ask the CCGP to take care of these inconsistencies while reviewing these texts.

Committee on Food Labelling

The Committee refered for endorsement Sections 9.3 on Labelling of the:

• Proposed Draft Annex on Leafy Vegetables Including Leafy Herbs to the Code of Hygienic Practice for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (ALINORM 10/33/13 para. 82 and Appendix II); and
• Proposed Draft Code of Hygienic Practice for Pathogenic Vibrio Species in Seafood (ALINORM 10/33/13 paras 93-94 and Appendix III).