109) The Committee recalled that the last session had agreed to include sprats in the scope of the standard and noted that further discussion would be required on hygiene aspects, sampling and analysis. The Committee considered the text section by section and made the following amendments.
Section 1. Scope
110) The Committee agreed that the Scope should include the list of products which were excluded from the standard and the relevant paragraph was transferred from section 2.1.
Section 2.2 Process Definition
111) The Delegation of Indonesia, referring to earlier discussions on the safety of dried salted anchovies, stressed that evisceration should be required for salted herring since the fish was much larger and intended for direct consumption, which significantly increased health hazards for consumers. The Delegation of Germany pointed out that evisceration would change the nature of this traditional product, which had a long history of safe consumption.
112) After an exchange of views, the Committee agreed with the proposal of the Chairman to use the same wording as in the standard for dried salted anchovies, indicating that the salting process should be sufficiently controlled to prevent the development of Clostridium botulinum. The Delegation of Brazil expressed the view that in order to ensure health protection, evisceration should be generally requested, especially since it was technically feasible for salted herring.
Section 2.2.2 Types of salted fish
113) Some delegations indicated that heavily salted fish was not currently found on the market and proposed to delete this category. After an exchange of views, the Committee agreed to retain the current types, since they corresponded to current practice in several countries, and to add a new category 'Very lightly salted fish' containing less than 4 g of salt /100g (water phase).
Section 2.2.4 Storage Temperatures
114) The Committee discussed the need to clarify the requirements for refrigerated or frozen storage according to the type of product concerned. The section was revised to reflect that the time/temperature combination should ensure the safety and quality of the product.
Section 3 Essential Composition and Quality Factors
115) The Committee agreed with the proposal of the Delegation of Canada to include a new section 3.4 Decomposition to address histamine as a quality factor and specify a maximum level of 10mg/100g. As pointed out in the discussion on histamine as a quality indicator for salted anchovies, the Delegation of Norway questioned whether histamine was adequate as a quality indicator in all Codex standards (see also para. 93).
Section 4. Food Additives
116) Some delegations pointed out that the additives currently listed in the standard did not correspond to current use and the Committee agreed to delete them.
117) The Secretariat informed the Committee that the following additives were included in the adopted or draft sections of the General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA), for use in the food category which included salted fish[9]
Colours
|
143 Fast Green FCF |
100 mg/kg (adopted) |
|
310 Propyl Gallate |
200 mg/kg (Step 8) |
|
210-213Benzoates |
200 mg/kg (Step 6) |
119) The Committee agreed to include the above mentioned additives in the text, for further comments and consideration at the next session.
Section 5. Hygiene and Handling
120) The Committee agreed to replace general provisions with the new section on food hygiene included in the Procedural Manual, and to add specific references to the relevant Codes of practice.
121) The Committee had an exchange of views on the presence of Nematodes. Some delegations pointed out that no visible larvae should be accepted, and that the product should be frozen to kill nematodes in general. Other delegations proposed that the determination of the viability of nematodes be carried out first before deciding on the treatment. The Committee agreed to amend section 5.2 to reflect that no obvious infestation was allowed, that when the presence of living nematodes was confirmed (method in Annex I), the product must not be marketed unless treated in accordance with the procedures described in Annex II.
Section 7. Sampling, Examination and Analysis
122) The Delegation of Germany indicated that a study on a method to check the viability of nematodes, carried out in cooperation with Denmark, would soon be finalized and could be used for inclusion in the standard as Annex I.
123) The Committee noted that the reference for the determination of histamine had been updated and that the determination of salt content (Annex III) was the same as in the Standard for Salted Fish of the Gadidae Family.
124) The Committee welcomed the offer of the Delegation of Norway to elaborate methods of analysis for water content (Annex IV), net weight and drained weight.
Section 8. Definition of Defectives
125) Some delegations noted that this section included provisions relating both to hygiene and to quality; however the Committee recalled that the determination of defectives was not particularly related to quality 'defects', but addressed compliance with all provisions in the standard.
126) In section 8.1.2 Parasites, defectives were defined by 'the presence of visible parasites in a sample unit detected by visual inspection', in the light of the earlier decision on the presence of nematodes. Section 8.1.3 on Living Larvae of Nematodes was consequently deleted.
127) The Committee expressed its appreciation to the Delegations of Germany and Norway for their work on this standard and recognized that substantial progress had been made on the Proposed Draft, especially on complex issues related to the safety of the product.
Status of the Proposed Draft Standard for Salted Atlantic Herring and Salted Sprats
128) The Committee agreed to forward the Proposed Draft to the 24th Session of the Commission for adoption at Step 5 (see Appendix VI).
