122. The Committee recalled that at the last Session the Delegation of the Netherlands proposed consideration of food safety hazards associated with viruses with a view to developing recommendations for their control. It had been agreed that the Delegation would prepare a discussion paper for the 32nd Session.
123. The Delegation of the Netherlands introduced the discussion paper prepared with the assistance of other countries and drew the attention of the Committee to the Recommendation in Section 6.2, which emphasized the importance of making current scientific knowledge widely accessible. The Delegation indicated that develop a paper it was not possible on “Control Measures for Foodborne Viruses”, comparable to the paper currently prepared for Listeria monocytogenes and asked the advice of the Committee on how to progress with this issue.
124. The Delegation of the United States expressed its appreciation of the excellent work done by the Delegation of the Netherlands and other drafting countries. The Delegation, while recognizing that viruses were a significant public health issue, suggested that this question, including the need for research, epidemiological data, and training could be better addressed by WHO and that the paper prepared might be published as a WHO document.
125. The Representative of WHO stated that WHO recognized the issue of viruses in food as a challenge to public health and that WHO was planning to convene an expert consultation on this issue in the year 2000 or 2001. This work would be done in addition to the work of the ad hoc Expert Consultation discussed under Agenda Item 2. The Delegation of Japan expressed the view that this matter should be addressed by the ad hoc Expert Consultation.
126. The Committee agreed to discontinue work on viruses for the time being and to revisit this question after 2 to 3 years, taking into account the progress in WHO and other international fora.
