(Agenda Item 4)[3]
27) The 23rd Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted the above Standard at Step 8 and approved as new work the inclusion of provisions for high oleic acid safflower oil and high oleic acid sunflower oil. At its last session, the Committee agreed that the delegations of Japan and France would prepare the relevant amendments for these oils. On this basis, the United Kingdom Secretariat prepared a Proposed Draft Amendment to the Standard for consideration considered at Step 3 by the 17th Session. The proposed text is attached to CL 2000/25-FO as Annex 2.
28) The Committee agreed to amend Section 2.1 - Product Definition and Section 3.1 - GLC Ranges of Fatty Acid Composition as proposed in Annex 2 of CL 2000/25-FO. It also agreed to amend Tables 1-4 of the Standard based on the recommendations made by the Working Group on Named Vegetable Oils[4] which are contained in CRD 8 (see also para. 3).
29) The Committee noted the request of the United States to amend oleic (C18:0) and linoleic (C18:2) fatty acid ranges for sunflowerseed oil in Table 1 in order to introduce provisions for a ‘mid-oleic’ sunflower oil.
In this regard, the Committee agreed that the existing values for traditional and high oleic acid sunflower oil should be retained and that the proposal of the United States for a possible new category should be discussed at the next session.
30) The Committee recognized that some data were missing for desmethylsterols and tocol for palm olein, palm stearin, rapeseed oil (high erucic acid) and mustard oil. Consequently, it agreed that relevant data should be supplied in support of such proposals as part of the regular updating of the Standard.
31) The Committee also agreed that existing ranges in percentages of total sterols in Table 3 should be retained as this was the conventional analytical approach. However, the Committee considered that the Standard should include provisions for ranges as absolute concentrations (i.e. mg/kg) for tocopherols and tocotrienols since this might be useful nutritional information for the consumers and therefore, data should be collected as soon as possible.
32) In addition, the Delegation of Malaysia proposed the inclusion of ‘palm superolein’ in the Standard in view of the increasing importance of this oil in world trade and the Committee concurred with this proposal.
Status of the Proposed Draft Amendment to the Standard for Named Vegetable Oils
33) The Committee agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Amendment to the 24th Session of the Commission for adoption at Step 5/8, with the omission of Steps 6 and 7 (see Appendix II).
34) The Committee also agreed to propose as new work the elaboration of provisions for mid-oleic sunflower oil, palm superolein and additional data in the Tables.
