TITLE
31. Some delegations felt that the term “including fresh cheese” should be deleted as it was redundant if “fresh cheese” was included in Section 7.1, Name of the Food. However, the Committee agreed to retain the term for the sake of clarifying what kinds of products were covered by the standard.
DESCRIPTION
32. The Committee discussed whether or not to retain cream cheese in the standard. Several delegations stated that the words in their languages that translate to “cream cheese” in English referred to a type of ripened cheese. Despite its decision at the Second Session to incorporate cream cheese into this standard, the Committee agreed to remove all references to cream cheese from the standard in order to facilitate the completion of this standard. As a consequence, the Committee also agreed to revise the individual standard for cream cheese to cover this product.
PERMITTED INGREDIENTS
Gelatine and Starches
33. Concerning the maximum levels for gelatine and starches, the Delegation of France stated that they should be used only for products containing low levels of fat and high levels of water and proposed that the maximum level for gelatine and starches should be 6 g/kg; and a numerical maximum level be established for the use of modified starches. However, several other delegations expressed the view that setting a numerical level might unnecessarily increase the amount of these substances used, which was against the principle of good manufacturing practice. The Committee agreed to retain the term “as governed by good manufacturing practice” in line with the maximum level of modified starches (see para. 38).
Wheat flour
34. Some delegations proposed to delete wheat flour from the permitted ingredients because of the severe risk posed by ingesting wheat products to consumers with celiac disease. Some other delegations stated that the presence of wheat flour would be declared on the label and were opposed to the deletion. It was recognized that “cereals and their products containing gluten” were listed in Section 4.2.1.4 of the Codex General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods as foods that may cause hypersensitivity and shall always be declared as such[15]. Nonetheless, the Committee decided to delete the term “wheat” from the list of permitted ingredients.
FOOD ADDITIVES
Acidity Regulators
35. The Committee agreed to retain sodium carbonates (INS 500) and potassium carbonates (INS 501) and to delete sodium bicarbonate (INS 500(i)) and potassium bicarbonate (INS 501(i)) as the latter substances were included in the respective carbonates groups.
36. The Committee agreed to delete tartaric acid (L(+)-) as it was only requested for cream cheese.
Stabilizers/Thickeners
37. The Committee agreed to delete tartrates as they were only requested for cream cheese.
38. The Committee agreed to delete acetylated distarch glycerol as no ADI had been allocated for the substance. For other modified starches, the Committee agreed to retain the maximum level at “limited by GMP” as an ADI “not specified” had been allocated to these substances. (see para. 33)
Colours
39. The Committee agreed to retain all colours as they were identical to those contained in the Standard for Cheese and as they would be considered for endorsement by the CCFAC.
Preservatives
40. The Delegations of Denmark, Germany and Switzerland expressed the opinion that, as a matter of principle, antimicrobials, such as nisin and pimaricin, should not be used in foods including unripened cheeses. However, the Committee noted that the uses of nisin in cheese and pimaricin for the surface treatment of cheese had been endorsed by the CCFAC for the Standard for Cheese; and the food additives provision would be considered by that Committee for endorsement. Therefore, the Committee decided to retain these substances in the permitted food additives list noting the reservations of the Delegation of Germany.
41. The Committee considered a proposal of the United States to include pimaricin to be used in sliced, cut, shredded and grated unripened cheese (surface treatment). As the Delegation of the United States stated that it had already submitted the technological justification for its use in unripened cheese to the CCFAC, the Committee included this use in the standard pending consideration by the CCFAC along with the use of pimaricin in sliced, cut, shredded and grated cheese (see para. 5)
Anticaking agents
42. The Committee agreed to delete potassium aluminosilicate as no ADI had been allocated to this substance.
LABELLING
Name of the Food
43. The Committee agreed to the following wording as proposed by IDF, utilizing the wording in the Standard for Cheese, and slightly modified by the Committee:
“The name of the food shall be unripened cheese. However, the words ‘unripened cheese’ may be omitted in the designation of an individual unripened cheese variety reserved by a Codex standard for individual cheeses, and, in the absence thereof, a variety name specified in the national legislation of the country in which the product is sold, provided that the omission does not create an erroneous impression regarding the character of the food.44. On the proposal to delete the term “provided it is not misleading to the consumer in the country in which the product is sold” from the last sentence of the above, the Committee agreed to retain it for the sake of consumer information.In case the product is not designated by an alternative or a variety name, but with the designation ‘unripened cheese’, the designation may be accompanied by a descriptive term such as provided for in Section 7.1.1 of the Codex General Standard for Cheese (CODEX STAN A-6, Rev. 1-1999).
Unripened cheese may alternatively be designated ‘fresh cheese’ provided it is not misleading to the consumer in the country in which the product is sold.”
45. The Delegation of France requested that the qualifiers contained in Section 7.2 of the French version of the Standard should be aligned with those in Section 7.2 of the Standard for Cheese.
Ingredient Listing
46. Due to the horizontal nature of the question, the Committee agreed to refer the new class name, “coagulating enzyme”, as follows to the CCFL for consideration and inclusion in the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods:
“Coagulating enzyme: Rennet or other safe and suitable coagulating enzymes of animal, plant or microbial origin.”The Committee requested the CCFL to take into consideration consumers’ interests and rights to be informed of the origin of coagulating enzymes, animal, plant or microbial, when considering the above class name.
47. The Committee also agreed to delete the section on ingredient listing from the standard on the basis of the decision above.
APPENDIX
48. The Committee agreed to delete the appendix as the standard covered a wide range of cheeses and it did not feel appropriate to specify usual patterns of manufacturing fresh cheese.
Status of the Draft Standard for Unripened Cheese Including Fresh Cheese
49. The Committee agreed to advance the Draft Standard to Step 8 for adoption by the Commission at its 24th Session, with the understanding that the food additives and labelling provisions were subject to endorsement by the relevant Codex Committees. The agreed text is attached to this report as Appendix II.
