7. The Proposed Draft Revised Code of Principles Concerning Milk and Milk Products (ALINORM 97/11, Appendix X) was adopted by the 22nd Session of the Commission at Step 5 (ALINORM 97/37, paras. 105-107), with the understanding that the recommendations of the Codex Committee on General Principles would be taken into account during its further elaboration and that the Code would be submitted to the CCFL for endorsement of the relevant provisions (see CL 1997/25–MMP for details).
8. The Draft Code, which was redrafted in the format of a Codex standard in line with the above Commission recommendations, was circulated for comment at Step 6[3]. The proposed revision of the Draft General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms in Labelling was prepared by the New Zealand Secretariat on the basis of above comments submitted and presented to the Committee under CRD 1 and later under CRD.1-Rev.1. It was agreed that this Committee had currently developed the text as far as possible. The Committee essentially agreed with the proposed revisions to the Standard presented in CRD 1. In addition, the following revisions and conclusions were discussed:
SCOPE
9. The Committee was informed of the opinion of the Legal Counsels of FAO and WHO presented at the 18th Session of the Commission (ALINORM 89/40, paras. 256-257) that although the terms of reference of the CCFL did not include the authority to elaborate standards or other texts related to advertising, problems related to advertising could be discussed by the CCFL.
10. The Committee recognized that the Standard would be useful throughout the Codex system and therefore agreed not to limit the Scope. In view of this decision, the Committee also deleted “in Labelling” from the title of the Standard and the terms label and labelling in other relevant sections. In consideration of potential implications for other Codex Committees that might also use related terms, the Committee agreed to advise other Committees of this decision.
DEFINITIONS
11. In view of the widened Scope, the Committee agreed to delete references to the Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Pre-packaged Foods in this Section and other relevant Sections of the Standard, the definitions of which were limited to labelling.
12. The Committee decided to clarify that the addition of food additives and other ingredients functionally necessary for processing in the definition for milk product was optional. The Committee agreed to amend the definition of Milk Product to ensure clarity.
13. The Committee agreed to amend the definition for Composite Milk Products by deleting the proposed figure of 50% milk constituent, stressing that milk products or milk constituents were an essential part in quantity in terms of the final product.
14. The Committee deleted Dairy Product from the list of definitions because the term was not commonly used in non-English speaking countries. In view of this decision, the Committee agreed to replace dairy product with milk and milk products where relevant in other sections of the Standard.
MILK
15. The Committee agreed in principle with the proposed revisions contained in CRD 1-Rev.1. The Committee clarified that milk offered for sale as such should be named “raw milk” or other such appropriate term so as not to mislead or confuse the consumer. The Committee clarified that the minimum and maximum limits of fat and/or protein content should be specified by national legislation. However, the protein content of the adjusted milk should be within the natural variation of this constituent within the country concerned. It was noted by several delegations that the strict application of the provision as previously proposed might preclude the manufacture of fat-standardized milk or skim milk from milk. The Committee agreed to amend the provision accordingly.
16. Several delegations were of the opinion that milkfat or protein adjustments necessitated mandatory labelling. In the opinion of these delegations, protein standardization was a process additional to that declared in the common name of the food and was of no benefit to the consumer, and without such a declaration consumers would be misled and their choice restricted. However, on the basis of interventions of other delegations which felt that this information was technologically inappropriate, the Committee concluded that the declaration of standardization should be determined by the legislation of the country of the point of sale to the final consumer. It therefore proposed to require such a declaration only where the consumer would otherwise be misled, pending consideration by the CCFL. Several delegations[4] strongly objected to this proposal, as a consensus was not reached by the Committee.
MILK PRODUCTS
17. The Committee clarified that products which are modified through the addition and/or withdrawal of milk constituents may be named with the name of the milk product in association with a clear description of the modification provided that the essential product characteristics were maintained, and that the limits of such modifications would be defined in the standards concerned.
COMPOSITE MILK PRODUCTS
18. The Committee agreed to revise this Section based on a proposal from the drafting group.
LIMITATIONS ON THE USE OF DAIRY TERMS, REPRESENTATIONS AND NAMES FOR OTHER FOODS
19. The Committee agreed to revise the title and provisions of this section as proposed in CRD 1, and renamed the title of the section to Use of Dairy Terms for Other Foods. The Section was clarified as proposed by the informal drafting group to indicate that foods which were not milk, milk products or composite milk products but which contained milk constituents which were essential to characterize the product could include the descriptor “milk”, provided that the constituents not derived from milk were not intended to take place, in part or in whole, of any milk constituent.
Status of the Draft General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms
20. The Committee forwarded the Draft General Standard for the Use of Dairy Terms to the Codex Committee on Food Labelling for endorsement of the relevant provisions, and to the 23rd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission for adoption at Step 8. The Draft Standard is attached to this report as Appendix II.
