63. The Committee recalled that the last session had decided to consider the possibility of developing a code of hygienic practice for pre-cut fruits and vegetables. The Delegation of France introduced the document, which had been prepared in cooperation with several countries, and focused on the specific hazards associated with pre-cut produce as issues related to raw material were covered in the document on primary production (see para.53). The Delegation noted that sprouts should not be included in the Code as the hazards related to their production were very specific and stressed some the major questions to be addressed: the extension of the Scope to fruit juices, the relationship with the primary production code, and contamination problems associated with refrigerated or non-refrigerated produce.
64. The Committee expressed its appreciation to the Delegation of France and to the other countries involved in the drafting for their work in clarifying the issues to be addressed and preparing the basis for the development of a Code. The Committee strongly supported the continuation of this work in view of the significant food safety issues involved and the growing trade in the products covered, and agreed to inform the Executive Committee accordingly.
65. The Committee had an exchange of views on the title of the document and agreed that it should refer to pre-cut raw fruits and vegetables in order to make it clear that the products covered were in the raw state; it was further agreed that composite products such as seasoned mixed salads were not included. It was noted that the title in Spanish should correspond exactly to the English and that it would be useful to mention the specific term used in French in the French version (4ème gamme).
66. The Committee discussed the opportunity of including fruits juices and sprouts in the code, possibly as Annexes, and generally agreed that document should focus on the specific hazards related to pre-cut raw fruits and vegetables. It was also agreed that the production of herbs and fruits juices should not be covered by the code as the hazards involved were different. However, the inclusion of other related products might be reconsidered at a later stage in the elaboration of the document.
67. The Committee discussed the relationship between the code under discussion and the proposed code on primary production, as discussed earlier (see Agenda Item 7). Some delegations expressed the view that the codes should be merged into a single document as they covered similar products and the current approach was to follow the entire production and processing chain in codes of hygienic practice, in accordance with the General Principles of Food Hygiene.
68. Other delegations pointed out that the problems addressed by the two codes were significantly different, as one was intended to address contamination in primary production while the other covered industrially processed fruits and vegetables. The application of the HACCP system was entirely relevant in the case of processed pre-cut and packed products, whereas its application to agriculture production raised many difficulties (see para. 59 above). These delegations proposed to discuss the codes separately at this stage, in order to avoid confusion and focus on the issues specific to each type of product. It was also noted that the production of pre-cut fruits and vegetables was an important industry in several countries, where specific legislation was applied. The Committee agreed that the two codes should be developed in parallel and that consideration could be given to combining them at a later stage.
69. The Delegation of Denmark, supported by some other delegations, expressed the view that systematic use of chemical substances, including chlorine, for disinfection purposes should be avoided as it might cause toxicological problems and might not significantly reduce contamination, and regrowth could appear in the residual bacterial population. The Delegation proposed that the text should therefore specify that disinfection could be used only if it appeared necessary on the basis of a thorough risk analysis, including risk/benefit analysis.
70. The Committee agreed that, when developing the code, the hazards associated with each step of the preparation and processing should be identified clearly, especially to determine how microbiological contamination was affected and could be minimized at each stage. The Delegation of Belgium pointed out that a number of issues raised in the elaboration of similar codes should also be taken into account, especially in order to avoid excessive detail and emphasize the HACCP approach.
71. The Committee agreed that the Delegation of France, in cooperation with a drafting group[15], would develop a Proposed Draft Code of Hygienic Practice for Pre-Cut Raw Fruits and Vegetables in the light of the above discussion, for circulation at Step 3 and consideration by the next session. The Committee noted that an electronic mail box would be established in order to facilitate work on the Codes discussed under Agenda Items 7 and 8, the instructions to be communicated to Codex Contact Points through the Codex-L List.
