Table of Conditions for Claims
5. The Committee noted that the Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses had finalized the conditions for claims for certain nutrients, and that the Table of Conditions (part A) would be forwarded as part of the Draft Guidelines for adoption by the Commission at Step 8.
6. The Delegation of the United States, supported by the Delegation of Australia, stressed that the conditions for claims should also be expressed per serving, whereas the present text referred only to nutrient contents per 100g or 100 ml. The Committee noted that the CCNFSDU had agreed in principle to establish conditions for claims on the basis of servings, to be added to the Table, and had requested specific government comments on this issue for consideration by the next session. The Delegation of the United States expressed the view that the value for "saturated fat free" was too low and did not take into account the difficulties relating to available methods of analysis, especially reproducibility.
7. In reply to a question on the expression of claims for sodium for solids only, the Secretariat recalled that the CCNFSDU had not discussed the expression of these claims for liquids when considering the Table and the initial draft had been based on the Standard for low sodium foods, which refers only to the amount of sodium per mass; this question should, therefore, be raised in the CCNFSDU with a view to defining conditions applicable to liquids.
8. In reply to a question by the Delegation of France, the Committee recalled that reference was made to sugars in the plural in the Table (in the English version) to include sugars other than sucrose. The Delegation of Sweden expressed the view that in the case of claims for "free", the nutrient should not be detected in the food.
9. The Delegation of Brazil indicated that the Draft Guidelines would be adopted in MERCOSUR and questioned the use of "energy free" only for liquids. The Committee noted that the CCNFSDU had discussed this claim and agreed that it was not applicable to solids.
10. The Delegation of Germany expressed the view that the footnote concerning trans-fatty acids in connection with the claims for cholesterol was not precise and should be clarified or deleted by the CCNFSDU.
11. The Committee agreed that the concerns expressed at the present session would be forwarded to the CCNFSDU for further consideration.
12. Some delegations and the Observer from IDF expressed the view that the Guidelines should allow for an exception for the "low fat" claim in the case of products with a traditionally high fat content. It was, however, noted that the last session of the Committee had already taken a decision on the general applicability of the Guidelines and that any comments at Step 8 should be directed to the Commission.
Code of Principles for Milk and Milk Products
13. With reference to the recommendation of the Committee on General Principles to redraft the Code of Principles as a standard, the Delegation of the United Kingdom expressed the view that the Committee should have the opportunity to review the new standard extensively in view of the important labelling aspects to be covered. The Chairperson noted that this would be the case and there were no objections.
