5. The Committee was informed of the matters arising from the 22nd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other Codex Committees. In addition, the Committee discussed the following issues.
Tolerances Permitted for the Declaration of Net Drained Weight
6. The Committee noted that the Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables (CCPFV) at its 19th Session requested advice from this Committee on the tolerances permitted for the declaration of net drained weight. The Committee recalled that it had once discussed this issue without reaching consensus. Noting that this was rather a technological problem and it would not seem feasible to establish general tolerances for net drained weight, the Committee agreed to send the issue back to the CCPFV.
Proprietary Methods
7. The Committee also noted the request from the 21st Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) to this Committee to consider the use of proprietary methods. The CCNFSDU noted that in some cases a proprietary method was the most specific way to detect an analyte, such as in the case of gluten detection. The Committee recalled that at its last Session it had endorsed one proprietary method, “Phadebas method”, for the determination of diastase activity in honey with a note that other commercially available calibrated substrate preparations can also be used.
8. The Delegation of Sweden, supported by that of Finland, requested the Committee to consider the endorsement of an enzyme immunoassay method for gluten determination in food, as they felt that an appropriate method for gluten determination was urgently needed. However, the Committee was of the opinion that the CCNFSDU should first agree to include the above-mentioned method in the Standard for Gluten-Free Foods and to forward the method to this Committee for endorsement. The Committee agreed that it would have no objection to the use of proprietary methods, provided that similar methods or materials supplying similar results were available.
