42. The Committee recalled that the 30th Session had reached consensus to discontinue the development of the work on Soft Cheeses as an independent Code, with the understanding that the work would continue with the elaboration of a general Code for Milk and Milk Products. The Delegation of the United States introduced the document on behalf of the drafting group and stressed the importance of the consensus reached at the last session on the Hygiene sections of the standards for milk products, whereby a variety of control measures can be used, in combination, and these measures should be shown to achieve the appropriate level of public health protection (ALINORM 99/13, Appendix VII). The Delegation pointed out that the formatting approach was built upon that consensus, utilizing annexes which allowed the document to maintain a dynamic state, as no amendment of the main text was required when new control measures were introduced or the technology evolved. Some delegations expressed concern with the drafting approach taken.
43. The Delegation of the United States noted that the Proposed Draft Code was constructed to focus on the need to achieve acceptable food safety outcomes through the use of one or more control measures, rather than defining specific processes for individual products. As a number of comments had been received, some of them submitted late as CRDs, the Committee directed the Delegation of the USA, as leader of the Drafting Group, to review the comments and to present its findings to the Committee. The Delegation highlighted the essential issues to be addressed in order to provide a basis for further development of the Code, as follows:
44. The Delegation of Austria, speaking on behalf of the Members of the EU, indicated that this list was not exhaustive and might be expanded by addressing concerns on the Annexes, technological considerations in addition to food safety requirements, control operations in Section 5.2.2; and the application of adequate controls associated with primary production
Status of the Proposed Draft Code of Hygienic Practice for Milk and Milk Products
45. The Committee agreed that the Delegation of the United States, in cooperation with its drafting partners[8], would redraft a Proposed Draft Code on the basis of the comments received and the discussions held during the session, for circulation at Step 3 and consideration by the next session.
