Congressional and Public Affairs
(202) 720-9113
Amanda Eamich

WASHINGTON, January 12, 2005– The Office of the Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety, U.S. Department of Agriculture, today announced a public meeting to provide information and receive comments on agenda items that will be discussed at the Eleventh Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission's Committee on Meat Hygiene (CCMH), February 14-18 in Christchurch, New Zealand.

The public meeting will be held from 2-4 p.m., Friday, January 21, in Room 0161, South Building, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. Agenda items to be discussed include: a draft code of hygienic practices for meat; and matters referred from the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other Codex Committees. Agenda items for the meeting can be found at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp.

The Codex Executive Committee (CEC) at its 47th Session in 2000 asked that the CCMH reconvene to redraft the existing codes on meat hygiene so that they reflect contemporary developments. The CEC also asked that the scope of the existing codes be broadened to include poultry meat hygiene. These recommendations were confirmed by the 24th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in July 2001.

Codex was created in 1962 by two United Nations organizations; the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Codex develops food standards, guidelines and codes of practice in order to protect the health of consumers, ensure fair trade practices in the food trade and promote coordination of food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

For information concerning the public meeting or for a sign language interpreter, contact Edith Kennard, Codex Committee Analyst, U.S. Codex Office, FSIS, at (202) 720-5261 or fax (202) 720-3157.