6-9 October 1998: COMMITTEE - North America and the South-West Pacific (5th Session)

Codex Coordinating Committee for North America and the South-West Pacific
Fifth Session, Seattle, Washington (USA), 6-9 October 1998

• strongly supported the establishment of a scientific advisory body on the microbiological aspects of food safety, particularly on microbiological risk assessments;
• recommended that the Commission, through the Secretariat, request the WTO Secretariat to indicated the availability of information or data which could be of utility to Codex in analyzing the status of the use or acceptance of Codex standards;
• generally endorsed recommendations arising from workshops in the Region concerning the promotion of Codex activities;
• supported the development of a statement of core functions of national Codex Contact Points by the Codex Committee on General Principles;
• noted and supported the work underway in the Codex Committee on General Principles to establish a sound framework for the participation of all INGO’s in Codex work;
• expressed the opinion that work on the food safety and nutritional aspects of foods produced through biotechnology was appropriate for the Commission to undertake;
• nominated Australia for appointment as Regional Coordinator.