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COMMITTEE ON COMMODITY PROBLEMS |
SUB-GROUP ON TROPICAL FRUITS |
First Session |
Pattaya, Thailand, 25-28 May 1998 |
TROPICAL FRUITS: FOOD SAFETY ISSUES UNDER THE SPS MEASURES OF THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION1 |
1. The importance of tropical fruits for improving nutrition in the context of food security, poverty alleviation and export potential for foreign exchange is increasingly being recognized. Tropical fruits have a role in a healthy diet and are currently engaging consumers' attention in a big way.
2. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international standards for safety and quality of food as well as codes of good manufacturing practice and other guidelines to protect the health of the consumer and remove unfair practices in international trade, including those for tropical fruit (see below). Currently, 162 countries (nations that belong to FAO and/or WHO) are members of the Codex Alimentarius Commission. The Model Food Law developed jointly by FAO and WHO and the Codex Alimentarius standards, guidelines and recommendations and the reports of the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Committees on Food Additives (JECFA) and the Joint Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) and also ad hoc Expert Consultations constitute unique references in the development and harmonization of food legislation world-wide. The two most relevant Codex bodies concerned with fresh tropical fruit are the Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables and the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene, which also ensures the quality and safety of all foodstuffs, including tropical fruits.
3. Codex fresh fruit standards adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission to date include avocado, banana, carambola, lychee, mango, mangosteen, papaya and pineapple. The Codex has also evolved recommended standards for various processed tropical fruits through its Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables. As a further assistance to ensure quality processing of tropical fruits, the Codex has adopted international codes of hygienic and/or technological practice. Those applicable to the tropical fruits include: General Principles of Food Hygiene, Code of Hygienic Practice for Canned Fruit and Vegetable Products, Code of Hygienic Practice for Dried Fruits, Code of Hygienic Practice for Dehydrated Fruits and Vegetables, Code of Practice for the Processing and Handling of Quick Frozen Foods. It is considered that the codes apply to any fruits, including tropical fruits if these are being processed by canning, drying, dehydrating or quick freezing. The General Principles of Food Hygiene are, however, considered applicable to all foods, including tropical fruits and vegetables. In addition, a Code of Practice for the Packaging and Transport of Fresh Fruits and Vegetables was also adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1995. Human health matters also concern pesticide residues or environmental contaminants which may be associated with the plant material.
4. The Uruguay Round Agreements on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (the SPS Agreement) and the Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) have given a new direction to the international food trade. With the reduction of tariff barriers, there is a possible danger that alternative forms of protection will be utilized, including arbitrary sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The SPS Agreement confirms the right of WTO Member countries to apply measures necessary to protect human, animal and plant life and health. It covers all food hygiene and safety measures, including the control of residues of pesticides or other chemicals. Considering only those provisions related to sanitary protection measures, the SPS Agreement has specific provisions related to risks arising from additives, contaminants, toxins or disease-causing organisms in food, beverages or feedstuffs. Essentially, SPS measures are food safety measures, and animal and plant quarantine measures. The SPS measures refer to all relevant regulations and requirements, especially those prepared by the CAC.
5. Food safety standards are defined in the SPS Agreement as those relating to food additives, veterinary drug and pesticide residues, contaminants, methods of analysis and sampling and codes and guidelines of hygienic practice. Codex food safety standards are used as the reference point for the WTO in this regard.
6. The Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (the TBT Agreement) is designed to prevent the use of national or regional technical requirements, or standards in general, as unjustified technical barriers to trade. It covers all types of standards including quality requirements for foods except requirements related to sanitary and phytosanitary measures and includes a very large number of measures designed to protect consumers against deception and economic fraud.
7. The SPS agreement recognizes the Codex recommended standards as the de facto international reference standards in the arbitration of trade disputes as well as in reviewing their national requirements. This has thus given the Codex standards an even greater importance to those countries that are involved in importing and exporting of foods including tropical fruits.
8. The FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission is recognized by the World Trade Organization as the international body responsible for the formation of standards relating to the safety of foodstuffs. Codex has established several thousand maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides and levels for contaminants in a wide range of foods. This work is continuing through relevant Codex committees using the information provided by the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) and the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). To assure FAO's continued support to provide up-to-date and appropriate science-based advice on matters related to food quality and safety, other ad hoc expert consultations are also convened on topics of current interest. Recent examples include Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consultations on: Biotechnology and Food Safety; Application of Risk Analysis to Food Standards; Risk Management and Food Safety; Food Consumption and Exposure Assessment; Food Fortification: Technology and Quality Control (October, 1995); and the FAO Expert Consultation on Animal Feeding Practices and Food Safety.
9. In setting national MRLs some countries use the Codex MRLs directly, a few recognize them for important foods in the absence of comparable domestic MRLs, while others take the Codex MRLs into consideration as they develop their national MRLs. Problems regarding residue level differences between exporting and importing countries could arise due to the factors such as the different ways pesticides are used in the different countries and the absence of use of some pesticides in countries where the concerned crops are not grown or the pests do not occur.
10. It has been observed that food control operation systems are more active in some developed countries than that of in some developing countries. It may be mentioned that neither a too stringent nor an absolutely relaxed regulation is desirable for a healthy international trade. What is important is that there has to be a total "mutual recognition" and "equivalence" (the situation of measures which are not identical but have the same effect) of requirements leading to harmonization between importing and exporting countries so that a balance is maintained on the status of regulations.
11. Positive nutrition campaigns in the recent years, particularly after the ICN, have stressed the nutritional value of fruits, including tropical fruits, and vegetables (especially yellow and dark green vegetables). A strong association between consumption of fruits and vegetables and prevention and control of micronutrient malnutrition, and possible protection from risks of certain non-communicable diseases has been recognized. National dietary guidelines and recommendations to increase both fruits and vegetables intake have generated awareness to the consumers for their nutritional and health benefit. Tropical fruits are today considered as an important dietary item for maintaining a healthy diet and lifestyle.
12. Given the nutritional benefit discussed earlier the outlook for tropical fruits is very promising. However, in order to be able to derive maximum nutritional advantage from these fruits it is essential that they are safe and wholesome. It is, therefore, evident that the developing countries (over 97 percent of world production and exports of tropical fruits originate in developing countries) have to bring their infrastructure to a level to meet Codex recommended standards, codes and guidelines.
1) Prepared and presented by Dr. Biplab K. Nandi, Senior Food and Nutrition Officer, FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 39 Phra Atit Road, Bangkok 10200, Thailand at the First Session of the Committee on Commodity Problems, Sub-Group on Tropical Fruits, Pattaya, Thailand, 25-28 May 1998.