124. The Chairman, while introducing the Proposed Draft, recalled that the key issue was the need for such a standard as the Committee was aware that the Codex Committee on Milk and Milk Products was developing a Proposed Draft Standard for Dairy Spreads in parallel.
125. Several delegations and the Observer from IFMA supported the elaboration of the Proposed Draft by this Committee in view of the significant exchanges of such products, notably Margarine and Minarine, in international trade. The Delegation of Cuba stressed the necessity of having an updated Codex standard for all types of margarines. The Committee also recognized the necessity of replacing the existing Codex standards on Margarine and Minarine which were too restrictive. It was also noted that the CCMMP was developing a standard for Dairy Spreads, a different kind of product, which was therefore outside the Scope of the Proposed Draft Standard for Fat Spreads and Blended Spreads. The Committee recognized that there was clear support to continue the elaboration of the Proposed Draft Standard, while maintaining consistency in all respects, as appropriate, with the Proposed Draft Standard for Dairy Spreads, and proceeded with its consideration it section by section.
126. Since the Proposed Draft had no appendices the Preamble was irrelevant and therefore was deleted.
Scope
127. The Committee had an extensive debate on the rationale and figures for maximum and minimum percentages of fat in the final product. Some delegations while supporting a maximum percentage proposed different values or the exclusion of some types of fat. The Delegation of Japan felt that establishing a maximum value was unnecessary since margarine and blended spreads were used not only as spreads but also for baking, frying and cooking. Some delegations while favouring a minimum value, proposed different figures. The Delegation of the United States urged the Committee to consider the establishment of the minimum value very carefully since technological innovations probably might offer to the consumers spreads with less than 10% fat, and by that time the Proposed Draft Standard might have become obsolete. Recognizing that controversial opinions existed and as a compromise, the Committee agreed to clarify the first sentence of the Scope as follows:
This standard applies to fat products, containing not less than 10% and no more than 90% fat, intended primarily for use as spreads.
128. The Delegation of India expressed its reservation in this regard and indicated that a product containing more that 80% fat was called margarine in their country.
129. Regarding the proposal of IFMA to exclude mayonnaise and spreadable cheese the Committee agreed to amend the third sentence of the Scope to read as follows:
It only includes margarine and products used for similar purposes intended for use as spreads and excludes products with a fat content of less than 2/3 of the dry matter (excluding salt).
130. In order to clarify the distinction with the Proposed Draft Standard being developed by the CCMMP the Committee agreed to amend the last sentence of the Scope as follows:
Butter and dairy spreads are not covered by this Standard.
2. Description
2.1 Fat Spreads and Blended Fat Spreads
131. The delegations of Brazil, the Netherlands, United States and the Observer of IFMA supported the deletion of the last part of the sentence (referring to "firm and spreadable at 20° C")in order to allow the marketing of products in liquid form, while some other delegations opposed it. In order to achieve consensus for the time being, the Committee accepted the proposal of the Chairman to put the last part of the sentence in square brackets for further comments and consideration by the next session of the Committee. The Delegation of Germany expressed its reservation in this regard.
2.2 Edible Fats and Oils
132. In order to clarify that synthetic fats were not included in the description of “Edible fats and oils” the Committee accepted the proposal of the Delegation of the United Kingdom to add the following sentence:
They are of vegetable or animal (including milk) or marine origin.
133. The Committee accepted the following proposals of the Delegation of Malaysia: to amend the wording “glycerides” to “triglycerides” and to specify that edible fats and oils may contain small amounts of other lipids such as “partial glycerides”. It also agreed to add more examples on processes of modification such as “fractionation, interesterification“ in the last sentence of the paragraph. It was also accepted, as proposed by the Delegation of Germany, to clarify that “processes of modification” referred exclusively to physical and chemical types of modification. Consequently the sentence was amended as follows:
This includes fats and oils that have been subjected to processes of physical or chemical modification including fractionation, interesterification and hydrogenation.
3. Essential Composition and Quality Factors
3.1 Fat Spreads
134. The Committee had an extensive debate on this issue as several controversial proposals on milk fat content were put forward for Section 3.1.1.1 concerning the maximum milk fat contents. The Delegation of Japan proposed that milk fat content in fat spreads be no more than 50%, and that it should be more than 50% for blended spreads, because such classification was clear to the consumers. The Delegation of India drew the attention of the Committee to the fact that in its country spreads containing milk fat were called “mixed fats spreads”, whereas the use of milk fat in “fat spreads” was not allowed. These Delegations questioned the reasoning for the inclusion of up to 3% milk fat in fat spreads as it might be used to give a butter flavour to fat spreads. It was clarified that the Committee had agreed on such a value at an earlier stage in the elaboration of the text, and it was necessary due to the technological specificity of the production and the addition of some milk protein to improve the quality of fat spreads. The Committee decided to leave the text as currently drafted.
Average/typical fat content
135. The Committee discussed the reasoning for the classification of margarine/fat spreads and the ranges of fat percentage for such classification. The Delegation of Malaysia drew the attention of the Committee to the wording “typical”, which had no real meaning and therefore should be substituted by “range”. After an exchange of views the Committee agreed to refer only to “fat content”. The Delegation of Brazil referring to its written comments indicated that terms like half margarine or three-quarter fat margarine did not correspond to what was normally used in their country and such terms might be confusing to consumers when translated into other languages. The Delegation therefore proposed that standards should also allow other alternative names for these products. This view was supported by some other delegations. It was also noted that this question might be addressed better in the Labelling Section. The Delegation of the Netherlands drew the attention of the Committee to the fact that products such as Margarine with 80% fat and Minarine with 40% fat were well established and known by consumers, and that the proposed classification was based on these percentages. The Delegation of Egypt put forward a new classification based only on different ranges of fat contents in margarine. As several different views were expressed, and as a starting point the Committee accepted the classification as proposed in the text. The Committee also accepted the proposal to keep the fat content for margarine within the range of 80-90%. For the other fat spreads under (b), (c), and (d) the Committee agreed to retain the figures as originally drafted and to put them in square brackets for further comments and consideration.
Status of the Proposed Draft Standard for Fat Spreads and Blended Spreads
136. Due to time constraints the Committee was unable to proceed further with the consideration of the text and decided to return the Proposed Draft, as amended during the current session, to Step 3 for additional comments and consideration by the next session (see Appendix VI).
