At the 31st session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, held from 30 June to 4 July 2008 in Geneva, Switzerland, the Commission adopted 35 new or revised Codex standards or related texts. These include the `Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Animals` as well as two new annexes to the `Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants`, namely `Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants Modified for Nutritional or Health Benefits` and `Food Safety Assessment in Situations of Low-level Presence of Recombinant-DNA Plant Material in Food`. In addition, the Commission approved new work for the Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling on `Guidelines on Criteria for Methods for the Detection and Identification of Foods Derived from Biotechnology` and agreed to dissolve the Ad hoc Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology. See the report (ALINORM 08/31/REP), together with the agenda providing links to the meeting`s documents, at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/archives.jsp?lang=en (in English, French and Spanish) or contact [email protected] for further information.

25/09/2008