32. The Committee recalled that it had first considered the concept of recovery factors in analytical work at its 19th Session. At its last Session it had received a progress report on the development of the Harmonized Guidelines and agreed that it be kept informed of progress being made by IUPAC in the development of the Guidelines. It had also agreed that once the Guidelines were finalized by IUPAC, the Committee would consider whether or not to recommend the Guidelines for Codex purposes.
33. The Delegation of the United Kingdom reported that the Harmonized Guidelines for the Use of Recovery Information in Analytical Measurement had been finalized and would be published before long. The finalized text was essentially the same as that contained in the annex of CX/MAS 98/6 with some editorial amendments. He explained that the issue was of concern due to differences from country to country in the application, or otherwise, of correction of analytical results, which might lead to trade disputes. For example, the corrected and uncorrected results of an analysis of the same sample could indicate that the product analyzed was in conformity with the specification in one analysis report while not in conformity in the other.
34. The Committee was generally of the view that there was disharmony in the use of recovery factors in the food analytical community and that it would be extremely difficult for it to reach consensus. On the need for correcting analytical results, some delegations stated that results should be corrected unless there were specific reasons not to do so. However, some other delegations were of the opinion that results were not corrected normally unless it was required to do so. Examples of uncorrected results were those of pesticide residue analyses and those obtained using Type I methods. It was stated that the conversion between corrected and uncorrected results was possible through the use of correction factors and that the report of analysis should give necessary information on the correction factor(s). It was also stated that information on recovery should be included in the method description, thereby referring to the method in the report of analysis would clarify whether or not the result had been corrected and provide for information necessary for conversion.
35. The Committee decided to postpone further discussions pending the publication of the Harmonized Guidelines. It requested that the Guidelines, when published by IUPAC, be circulated to Member countries and that comments on the Guidelines be sought by way of a Codex Circular Letter which would include pertinent elements of CRD 8. The Committee would consider the published Guidelines and comments submitted on the Guidelines at its next Session to decide whether it would be appropriate to recommend the document for adoption by reference by the Commission for Codex purposes.
