The Twenty-first Session of the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling reached the following conclusions:
|
MATTERS FOR CONSIDERATION BY THE COMMISSION The Committee: - redrafted the four criteria and a statement regarding laboratory accreditation into Proposed Draft Guidelines for the Assessment of the Competence of Testing Laboratories Involved in the Import and Export Control of Food, sought approval of the elaboration of the guidelines and recommended the Commission to adopt the guidelines at Step 5 with omission of Steps 6 and 7 (paras. 22-24, Appendix II) - decided to send the definitions of selected analytical teminology to the Commission for endorsement (para. 28, Appendix III); - agreed to discontinue work on methods using ODS and that no further action was needed by the Committee (para. 42); - in order to clarify its previous recommendation made at the last session to the Commission to delete the CAC/RM numbering system, provided the following information, "When the original reference is available, this reference should be included and the CAC/RM numbering system reference deleted. When the original reference is not available, the full text of the method should be included in Codex Alimentarius Volume 13 and the CAC/RM numbering system reference deleted." (para. 44); - endorsed a number of methods of analysis for some food additives and contaminants and for 8 Codex commodity standards (paras. 45-47, Appendix V) - agreed to request the Commission to adopt the corrected version of the Terms of Reference together with the amendment proposed by this Committee at its last Session (Para. 55, Appendix IV); - agreed to propose to the Commission that new work on in-house method validation be undertaken (para. 61); and supported the proposal of the CCRVDF that the Commission request FAO and WHO to give consideration to convening an expert consultation on the question of methods validation for food control purposes (para. 18). OTHER MATTERS OF INTEREST TO THE COMMISSION The Committee: - decided to return the Proposed Draft General Guidelines on Sampling to Step 3 for further revision by the Codex Secretariat, Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, India, The Netherlands, Thailand, UK and USA in light of the decisions made at the Session (paras. 5-9); - agreed that the paper on criteria for evaluating acceptable methods of analysis for Codex purposes be revised by Canada, France and the United Kingdom, with corrections as appropriate, for circulation to Member Countries and international organizations for comments (para. 15); - agreed that it be kept informed of progress being made by IUPAC in the development of the Harmonized Guidelines for he Use of Recovery Factors in Analytical Measurement (para. 30); - agreed to request a revised paper on measurement uncertainty in light of the decisions made by the Committee on this issue (paras. 36-37); - deferred discussions on the Guidelines for the Inclusion of Specific Provisions in Codex Standards and Related Texts pending the developments on the Proposed Draft Guidelines on Sampling and the working procedure and selection of criteria in the criteria-based approach (para. 50); - noted the report of the 12th Inter-Agency Meeting; and requested the Inter-Agency Meeting to recommend whether it would be appropriate to include "limits" in the selected terminology and to elaborate their definitions; and to review methods of analysis using ozone-depleting substances (paras. 28, 42 & 51-54); - agreed to request the Codex Committee on General Principles to review items (d) and (e) of the Terms of Reference to enable this Committee to take more horizontal approach in elaborating sampling plans and to clarify the situations concerning discrepancy between these items and "assessment of microbiological quality and safety in food: (para. 56); - agreed to recommend that the meetings of the ad hoc
Working Group on Endorsement should continue to be utilized as an efficient
means of accomplishing the important task entrusted to this Committee in the
limited time frame it has for its Session (para. 57); and noted the request of
Spanish-speaking countries to make Spanish interpretation available at future
sessions (para. 59). |
