3-5 June 1998: COMMITTEE - Executive Committee (45th Session)

Executive Committee of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
45th Session, FAO Headquarters, Rome 3-5 June 1998

• expressed appreciation for the significant financial contributions to the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme provided by FAO, WHO and host governments
• noted that the Codex Committee on Edible Ices had been abolished;
• abolished, subject to confirmation by the Commission, the following bodies and proposed arrangements for assigning their work to other Committees - Joint ECE/Codex Group of Experts on the Standardization of Quick Frozen Foods; Joint ECE/Codex Group of Experts on the Standardization of Fruit Juices.
• amended the draft Medium-Term Plan 1998-2002 to provide for a new Programme Area on Strengthening Transparency and included a provision for consideration of a general standard for foods prepared from biotechnology;
• called on FAO and WHO to ensure that the preparations for the convening of a consultation on food microbiological risk assessment would be transparent and include input from the Committee on Food Hygiene and from Members;
• called for effective follow-up to be made on providing expert advice on the question of food allergies and intolerances;
• approved a number of proposals for new work;
• advanced a number of proposed draft standards to Step 5 of the Codex procedure;
• agreed to the withdrawal of certain MRLs for veterinary drug residues, subject to confirmation by the Commission;
• considered the reply from the Chairman of the WTO Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures on the status of Codex advisory texts (paras. 41-44);
• recommended that the draft provisional agenda for the 23rd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission be submitted to the Directors-General of FAO and WHO;
• noted that the findings of the Study Group a joint FAO/WHO/IAEA Study Group on High Dose Food Irradiation could lead to a revision of the Codex General Standard for Irradiated Foods and other texts.