Proposed Draft Annex on Cleaning and Disinfection to the Recommended International Code of Practice - General Principles of Food Hygiene
Guidelines for the Validation of Food Hygienic Control Measures
Guidelines for Evaluating the Presence of Extraneous Material and Filth in Food
137. The Delegation of the United States recalled that the last session was scheduled to consider a review of the earlier Annex to the General Principles of Food Hygiene and had deferred consideration of this question due to time constraints. The Delegation proposed to develop an updated Annex to provide practical advice on cleaning and disinfection of food contact and environmental material and to consider the sanitizing of raw material that is to become food.
138. The Delegation of the United Kingdom pointed out that this information was of a technical nature, would become rapidly outdated and should not be included in a code of hygienic practice. The Committee recognized that there was no support to establish the proposed Annex and agreed to discontinue work on this subject.
139. The Delegation of the United States indicated that the need for validation had been raised in the discussion on milk and milk products but that it should be addressed from a general perspective, in order to ensure the effectiveness of measures in relation to a specified level of public health protection. Some delegations supported the development of such work. The Delegation of Germany recalled that work on issues related to equivalence was underway in the framework of the Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems and that duplication should be avoided.
140. The Committee agreed that the Delegation of the United States, with the assistance of Australia, Canada, France, IDF and interested countries, would prepare a discussion paper for consideration by the next session, including the rationale for validation of hygienic control measures and the type of measures that would be covered.
141. The Delegation of the United States recalled that the revised hygiene provisions in commodity standards did not any longer include a reference to objectionable matter, since relevant provisions were included in the General Principles of Food Hygiene. However there was a need to develop guidance to address the presence of extraneous material in food, in view of the hazards involved, especially on the basis of recent scientific information. The Delegation proposed that this should be done through an Annex to the General Principles.
142. The Delegation of the United Kingdom pointed out that reference to wholesomeness was generally avoided in codes of practice and should be replaced with “suitability”, and proposed to change the title by replacing “extraneous material and filth” with “objectionable matter”. The Committee agreed that the Delegation of the United States in cooperation with Mexico should prepare a discussion paper on Guidelines for the Evaluation of Objectionable Matter for consideration by the next session.
