(Agenda Item 5)[5]
35) The Committee recalled that the last session had not come to a conclusion on the description and essential composition factors and had not discussed the other sections due to time constraints. The Proposed Draft Standard had therefore been returned to Step 3 for further comments and consideration at the 17th Session. The Committee discussed the text section by section and made the following amendments.
Section 1. SCOPE
36) The Delegation of the United States, supported by Japan, proposed to delete the upper limit of 90%. The Observer from the EC supported the limit of 90% as it allowed to establish a distinction with liquid products. Some delegations pointed out that a fat content above 90% could be found in solid fat spreads, and questioned the exclusion of liquid products from the standard. The Committee agreed to retain the current text of the Scope, until a final decision was made on the products covered by the standard in the following sections.
Section 2. DESCRIPTION
37) The Delegation of the United States, supported by several delegations, proposed to delete the reference to “firm and spreadable at 20°C”. The Observer from the EC, supported by other delegations, indicated that “spreadable” was the essential characteristic of fat spreads and that it could not accept its deletion, as it would completely change the nature of the products covered by the standard.
38) The Committee had an exchange of views on the interpretation of the term “spreadable”, and in particular whether this was restricted to semi-solid fats or could apply to liquid products. The Delegation of Spain expressed the view that if the nature of the products was changed, the title of the standard should be amended accordingly. The Delegation of Japan proposed to amend the title to “margarine and blended margarine”. The Committee decided to discuss further the description and to decide later if this entailed any amendment of the title. The current title of the standard was eventually retained.
39) As a compromise, the Committee agreed to describe fat spread as “plastic or fluid emulsions” and to delete the reference to “firm and spreadable at 20°C”. The Observer from the EC indicated that it did not agree with this amendment.
Section 3. ESSENTIAL COMPOSITION AND QUALITY FACTORS
Section 3.1.1. Fat Spreads
40) The Delegation of Japan proposed to simplify the classification of spreads and to include only two classes of products: margarines with a fat content above 80% and fat spreads with a fat content below 80%.
41) Some delegations and the Observer form the EC stressed the need to retain the reference to “three quarter margarine” and “half fat margarine” as it was commonly used in their countries. Other delegations pointed out that these names were not in use in their countries; if the specifications for these categories were generally applied at the international level, this would create barriers to trade and prevent marketing of other types of fat spreads. The Delegation of the Netherlands pointed out that the inclusion of only two classes of fat spreads entailed the disappearance of the present Codex Standard for Minarine and the internationally known name “minarine” for products with a fat content of 39 to 41%.
42) The Delegation of Brazil, referring to its written comments, indicated that in Brazil the term margarine was used with the percentage of fat to describe the product as this was a clear information for the consumer, and that this possibility should not be excluded in the standard.
43) The Committee considered this question in detail and agreed that two categories should be retained: margarine (fat content greater than or equal to 80%) and fat spreads (fat content below 80%). The conditions for use of the term ’margarine’ with a lower fat content were specified in the labelling section (see also section 7.1.1), in order to take into account current practices at the national level.
Section 3.1.2 Blended Spreads
44) The Observer from the EC proposed to amend the minimum level of milk fat from 3% to 10% as this was necessary to establish a clear distinction between blended spreads, which contained milk fat, and fat spreads. The Delegation of Japan, supported by other delegations and the Observer from IFMA, pointed out that products with a milk fat content between 3 and 10% would not be covered by the standard although they were currently marketed in Japan and other countries.
45) After a detailed discussion, the Committee agreed to retain the reference to 3% and to specify that “a higher minimum percentage may be specified in accordance with the requirements of the country of retain sale” as this left the possibility for member countries to apply a higher level. The Delegation of Japan proposed to redraft the section in order to improve consistency with section 3.1.1 Fat Spreads; however this was not possible at the current session due to time constraints and the Committee noted that this might be addressed at the next session.
3.2 Permitted Ingredients
46) The Committee noted some proposals to include additional substances in the list of permitted ingredients. However it was recognized that the list of additional ingredients was not really necessary and the Committee agreed to delete this section.
Section 4. FOOD ADDITIVES
47) The Delegation of the United States, as Chair of the Working Group on Food Additives[6], presented the proposals included in CRD 9 to revise the additives section. The Committee expressed its appreciation to the WG for its comprehensive work in the review of additives provisions, in order to consider technological justification and ensure consistency with the General Standard for Food Additives. The Committee agreed to introduce the following amendments to the current section.
4.1 Colours
100 (i) Turmeric was deleted as there was no ADI allocated by JECFA, and 100 (ii) Curcumin was retained.
160a (ii) Natural carotenes were added with a GMP level
4.3 Emulsifiers
48) It was specified that the use of several emulsifiers was limited to ‘baking purposes only’. The maximum level for Thermally oxidised soyabean oil interacted with mono and diglycerides of fatty acids (479b) was amended to 5g/kg.
4.5 Thickening and stabilizing agents
49) 460(i) Microcrystalline cellulose and 460 (ii) Cellulose were added to the list and Pregelatinized starches were deleted as they were considered as a food ingredient rather than an additive.
4.7 Antioxidants
308 Synthetic gamma tocopherols and 309 Synthetic delta tocopherols were deleted as there was no ADI established by JECFA. The following maximum levels were amended:
304 Ascorbyl palmitate and 305 Ascorbyl stearate: 500 mg/kg4.8 Antioxidant synergists
310 Propyl gallate: 100 mg/kg
389 Dilauryl thiopropionate: 200 mg/kg
50) Monoglyceride citrate was deleted as there was no ADI established by JECFA.
4.10 Flavour enhancers
51) 959 Neohesperidine dihydrochalcone was deleted as there was no ADI established by JECFA.
4.11 Miscellaneous
52) As several sweeteners were included in this section, the Committee agreed to establish a separate section for Sweeteners and retained the current GMP levels.
53) The Delegation of Spain pointed out that for a number of additives a GMP level was included although they had a numerical ADI and proposed to put them in square brackets in the list. The Committee agreed that further consideration should be given to those additives and invited member countries to make proposals for numerical levels if required.
54) The Delegation of the Philippines proposed to include 384 Stearyl Citrate and 407a Processed Euchema Seaweed in the Additives Section. As this proposal was made after the Committee had concluded its consideration of the standard it was not discussed. The Committee noted that Stearyl Citrate was already allowed in the GSFA and that it was possible for governments to make additional proposals either at the endorsement stage in the Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants or at the next session of the CCFO.
Section 6. HYGIENE
55) The Committee agreed to insert the revised standard text for food hygiene provisions adopted by the last session of the Commission and included in the Procedural Manual.
Section 7. LABELLING
56) In Section 7.1 The Delegation of Malaysia proposed to include a reference to the Guidelines on Use of Nutrition Claims (GL 23-1997) and other relevant Codex Guidelines, in addition to the current reference to the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods.
57) The Observer from IFMA, referring to its written comments, expressed the view that the classification of fat spreads should include specific nutrition claims for ‘low fat’ which could deviate from the Guidelines, since deviations from general requirements were allowed providing they were endorsed by the relevant Committees, and commodity committees could also propose labelling and nutrition provisions.
58) The Secretariat recalled that the Committee on Food Labelling and the Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses, while discussing the Guidelines and endorsing labelling provisions, had specified that the Guidelines were applicable to all foods and that there should be no exception. This applied especially to the claim for “low fat” since this question had been raised in the Committees. The definition of the absolute claims ‘low fat’ and ‘cholesterol free’ had been established in the CCNFSDU and reflected international consensus among nutritionists in this area. However, the comparative claims for ‘reduced fat’ or ‘light’ were allowed by the Guidelines under certain conditions, and could be used for fat spreads as well as for other foods.
59) The Committee noted that this question had been addressed at the level of the horizontal Committees and agreed to include the reference to the Guidelines for Use of Nutrition Claims in section 7. The reference to Codex guidelines was therefore deleted in the following paragraph (section 7.1). The Observer from the EC indicated that due to the importance of trade in products with a lower fat content, the question of claims should be considered in detail.
60) The Delegation of Spain proposed to allow a reference to the seed oil composition of the margarine in conjunction with the name of the food (such as ‘sunflower margarine’). The Committee noted that there was nothing to prevent such a description under the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods and it was not necessary to specify it in the current standard.
61) Following earlier discussion of the Description, the Committee included a new section 7.1.1 (see para. 44) indicating that products with a fat content below 80% could be labelled “margarine” with a qualification reflecting the lower fat content, in accordance with the requirements of the country of retail sale. The Delegation of Spain and the Observer from the EC expressed the view that this paragraph should be amended to make it clear that products with names which differed from the names allowed in the countries of retail sale could not be marketed in those countries.
62) The Delegation of the Netherlands, supported by the Observer from the EC, proposed to include a specific reference to the products corresponding to the current standard for minarine as they were significantly traded and familiar to consumers in several countries. Some delegations expressed the view that the standard did not prevent such a description but did not need include specific names used in one country or region in particular. After a short discussion, the Committee agreed to add a new sentence in section 7.11 allowing the use of ‘minarine’ or ‘halvarine’ for products with a fat content of 39-41%.
63) In section 7.3 the Committee had an exchange of views on the need to replace ‘typical content’ with ‘average content’. Some delegation proposed to refer to ‘fat content’ without other qualification, while other delegations indicated that it might cause problems for the industry to comply with a strict requirement. The Committee agreed to refer to ‘average content’.
64) The Delegation of Spain, supported by the Observer from the EC, proposed to include a reference to a percentage of salt content as in the standard for butter, since this was an important information for the consumer. The Committee agreed that this question could not be addressed at this stage and would require further consideration at the next session. The corresponding method of analysis was retained in square brackets.
Section 8. Methods of Analysis and Sampling
65) The Committee agreed with the conclusions of the Working Group on methods of analysis, as presented in CRD 6 and introduced the corresponding changes in the revised text.
Status of the Proposed Draft Standard for Fat Spreads and Blended Fat Spreads
66) The Committee agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Standard, as amended at the present session, to Step 5 for adoption by the 24th Session of the Commission (see Appendix V).
