77. The Committee recalled that the draft standard had initially been developed by the Codex Coordinating Committee for Asia, and forwarded to the CCFFP for finalization after its adoption at Step 5 by the Executive Committee in 1996. The Committee reviewed the standard section by section and made the following amendments.
3.2 Other Ingredients and 3.3 Optional Ingredients
78. In section 3.2, the Committee agreed that "suitable starches" would cover all starches in general, the specific examples on tapioca and sago were therefore deleted. In section 3.3, a reference to "suitable spices" was added to "sugar" and the additives were moved to the section on Additives. The Secretariat recalled that additives should be specified and that the level of use should be indicated.
3.4 Final Product and Table 1
79. The Committee agreed to move section 3.4.2 to the Hygiene section. As it was noted that the aspects included in the section were covered by general hygiene requirements, the section was put in square brackets.
80. The Committee had an exchange of views on the reference to crude protein in Table 1, as some delegations felt that it would be preferable to include a percentage of fish flesh; however, there would be no method to determine this percentage. It was also noted that the Table did not provide criteria for crackers which were made from mixture of fish and shellfish.
81. The Committee noted that the purpose of Codex standards was to establish minimum requirements and that grades were not usually defined in standards. In reply to a question, the Delegation of Indonesia confirmed that grading of crackers in three grades corresponding to protein levels was current practice in trade, according to the quantity of fish or shrimp in the product. The Committee agreed that this question required further consideration.
82. The Delegation of Canada pointed out that the characteristics of the final product should be defined more precisely and that a section on Defectives would also be required as in other standards.
Section 5. Packing
Section 6. Labelling
83. The Delegation of Thailand questioned the need for transparent packaging material and the Committee agreed that this should be further considered. The reference to "English" names was deleted and replaced with "common" names, in conformity with the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods.
General aspects
84. Some delegations noted that several sections which were usually found in fish standards were missing in this text, such as the definition of defectives, or the reference to odour and flavour. The Committee recognized that, as appeared from the above discussions, further work was needed to clarify several sections before the current text could be finally converted into a world-wide standard.
Status of the Draft Standard for Crackers from Marine and Freshwater Fish, Crustacean and Molluscan Shellfish
85. The Committee agreed to return the Draft Standard, as amended at the current session, to Step 6 for further comments and consideration by the next session (see Appendix IV)
