COMMITTEE ON FOOD HYGIENE
5. The Committee considered the proposal put forward by the Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) for an amendment to its Terms of Reference, in order to reflect its work in the area of microbiological risk assessment and risk management.
6. The Committee agreed with the proposal of the Delegation of Sweden, speaking on behalf of the EC, to refer to "microbiological" risk assessment and risk management for clarification purposes. The Committee had an exchange of views on the need for other amendments and agreed to retain the current text.
7. The Delegation of India stated that in view of the separation between risk assessment and risk management and for consistency with other Codex Committees, the "questions to be addressed to risk assessors" should not be included in the text. The Representative of WHO indicated that such questions from CCFH were essential to orient the work of the FAO/WHO expert consultations and to ensure effective risk communication. The Committee also noted that this corresponded to current practice between Codex Committees and expert committees or consultations.
8. The Committee agreed to forward the proposed amendment to the terms of reference of the Committee on Food Hygiene to the Commission for adoption and inclusion in the Procedural Manual (see Appendix II).
COMMITTEE ON METHODS OF ANALYSIS AND SAMPLING
9. The Committee recalled that the last session of the CCMAS had agreed to apply the criteria approach to Type III methods and had proposed specific amendments to the Procedural Manual to reflect this new approach in the framework of Codex. The Committee also noted that the CCMAS had agreed to develop Guidelines for general application by governments concerning the selection of methods of analysis through the criteria approach.
10. The Committee agreed to endorse the addition of a new section in the Principles for the Establishment of Codex Methods of Analysis concerning "General Criteria for the Selection of Methods of analysis using the Criteria Approach". It was further agreed to include an additional section addressing the endorsement of methods of analysis through the criteria approach in the Relations between Commodity Committees and General Committees – Methods of Analysis and Sampling.
11. The Committee noted that the CCMAS had also proposed the inclusion of new Guidelines and Working Instructions to facilitate the criteria approach, for inclusion in the Principles for the Establishment of Codex Methods of Analysis. The Delegation of Sweden referred to its written comments proposing several editorial and presentation amendments in order to simplify the text and to improve the format of the document. In particular, some explanatory and technical text had been removed, to ensure that it would be appropriate for inclusion in the Procedural Manual, while retaining the recommendations concerning procedure. The Committee did not consider the text in detail due to time constraints and did not reach a conclusion on this question, and recommended that the CCMAS should reconsider the text at its next session. The Committee also noted that the CCMAS had forwarded this text for adoption by the Commission.
CODEX COMMITTEE ON FOOD IMPORT AND EXPORT INSPECTION AND CERTIFICATION SYSTEMS (CCFICS): Traceability
12. The Committee was informed that the Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems (CCFICS) had discussed this issue, and that it had noted in particular that several Codex Committees and Task Forces were dealing with traceability. The CCFICS had agreed that within its Terms of Reference it had a responsibility to consider work in this area. However, the CCFICS had recommended that in view of the system-wide interest in this issue, a paper should be prepared by the Secretariat in order to obtain the Commission's guidance in this matter.
13. All Delegations that spoke highlighted the importance of the issue and the importance of a uniform approach to the concept and application of traceability. They welcomed the recommendation that such a paper be prepared for the Commission's consideration. Most Delegations noted the fact that the issue was being dealt with or discussed in a number of Committees or Task Forces.
14. Some Delegations proposed that the Committee on General Principles should have a leading role in the preparation of general guidelines or principles on traceability, with other Codex Committee providing specific guidance on its application. Other Delegations were of the opinion that it would be premature to decide what role the Committee should have before consideration of the matter by the Commission. Individual issues that Delegations and observers believed to be important in the development of the topic included:
15. The Committee looked forward to receiving the advice of the Commission on this matter and drew attention to its role of ensuring a consistency of approach of such matters throughout the Codex system. It looked forward to contributing positively to the future development of this topic.
