[Federal Register: January 28, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 18)]
[Notices]
[Page 4087-4089]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr28ja05-50]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. 04-045N]
Codex Alimentarius Commission: Thirty-Seventh Session of the
Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting, request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), United States Department of Health and Human
Services, are sponsoring a public meeting on March 9, 2005, to provide
information and receive public comments on agenda items that will be
discussed at the
[[Page 4088]]
Thirty-seventh Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and
Contaminants (CCFAC), which will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands,
on April 25-29, 2005. The Under Secretary and FDA recognize the
importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain
background information on the agenda items that will be discussed at
this forthcoming session of the CCFAC.
DATES: The public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 9, 2005,
from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Auditorium (Room 1A-
003), Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway,
College Park, Maryland. Documents related to the 37th Session of the
CCFAC will be accessible via the World Wide Web at the following
address: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp.
FSIS invites interested persons to submit comments on this notice.
Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROM's and hand-or
courier-delivered items: Send to Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 300 12th Street, SW.,
Room 102, Cotton Annex, Washington, DC 20250-3700.
All comments received must include the Agency name and docket
number 04-045N.
All comments submitted in response to this notice, will be
available for public inspection in the FSIS Docket Room at the address
listed above between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The comments also will be posted on the Agency's Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2005_Notices_Index/
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: About the 37th session of the CCFAC:
U.S. Delegate, Dr. Terry Troxell, Director, Office of the Plant and
Diary Foods and Beverages, Center for Food Safety and Applied
Nutrition, FDA, Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building, 5100 Paint Branch
Parkway (HFS-300), College Park, MD 20740, phone: (301) 436-1700, fax:
(301) 436-2632, e-mail: terry.troxell@fda.hhs.gov.
About the public meeting: Ellen Matten, U.S. Codex Office, Food
Safety and Inspection Service, Room 4861, South Building, 1400
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-3700, phone: (202) 205-
7760, fax: (202) 720-3157. Attendees are requested to pre-register as
soon as possible by e-mail to (e-mail address: ccfac@cfsan.fda.gov.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) was established in 1962
by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Codex is
the major international standard-setting organization for protecting
the health and economic interests of consumers and encouraging fair
international trade in food. Through adoption of food standards, codes
of practice, and other guidelines developed by its committees, and by
promoting their adoption and implementation by governments, Codex seeks
to ensure that the world's food supply is sound, wholesome, free from
adulteration, and correctly labeled. In the United States, USDA, FDA,
and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manage and carry out U.S.
Codex activities.
The Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC)
establishes or endorses maximum or guideline levels for individual food
additives, for contaminants (including environmental contaminants) and
for naturally occurring toxicants in foodstuffs and animal feeds. In
addition, the Committee prepares priority lists of food additives and
contaminants for toxicological evaluation by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert
Committee on Food Additives (JECFA); recommends specifications of
identity and purity for food additives for adoption by the Commission;
considers methods of analysis for the determination of food additives
and contaminants in food; and considers and elaborates standards or
codes for related subjects such as the labeling of food additives when
sold as such, and food irradiation. The Committee is chaired by The
Netherlands.
Issues To Be Discussed at the Public Meeting
Items on the provisional agenda of the 37th session of CCFAC to be
discussed during the public meeting:
1. Matters referred or of interest to the committee arising from
the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other Codex committees, including
the endorsement or revision of maximum levels for food additives and
contaminants in Codex commodity standards.
2. Summary reports of the 63rd and 64th meetings of the Joint
Expert Committee for Food Additives (JECFA) and any actions required as
a result of changes in the acceptable daily intake (ADI) status and
other toxicological recommendations.
3. Consideration of the Codex General Standard for Food Additives
(GSFA) including:
(a) Progress report of the working group on the working principles
of the GSFA,
(b) Report of the electronic working group on the GSFA,
(c) Draft and proposed draft food additives provisions requiring
information on their use, and
(d) Proposed draft food additive provisions at Step 3 and proposals
for new uses.
4. Proposals for additions or amendments to the International
Numbering System for Food Additives, including discussion papers on
harmonizing the food additive class names used by Codex and JECFA, and
a proposed definition of food additive carriers.
5. An updated Inventory of Processing Aids (IPA).
6. A discussion paper on flavoring agents with risk management
options for CCFAC to consider.
7. Terms of reference for a Joint FAO/WHO expert group to conduct a
comprehensive assessment of the use of active chlorine in food
processing.
8. Specifications for the identity and purity of food additives.
9. Schedule 1 of the Codex General Standard for Contaminants and
Toxins (GSCT) with proposed draft revisions.
10. Draft code of practice for the prevention and reduction of
aflatoxin contamination in tree nuts.
11. Proposed draft maximum levels for aflatoxin in unprocessed and
processed almonds, hazelnuts, and pistachios.
12. Proposed draft sampling plan for aflatoxin contamination in
almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, and pistachios.
13. Discussion paper on aflatoxin contamination in Brazil nuts with
risk management options for CCFAC to consider.
14. Information on deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination in cereal
grains.
15. Information on mycotoxin contamination in sorghum.
16. Draft maximum levels for lead in fish, including a list of the
major internationally traded fish species with proposals for lead
maximum levels.
17. Proposed draft maximum levels for tin in food.
18. Draft code of practice for the prevention and reduction of
inorganic tin contamination in canned foods.
19. Draft and proposed draft maximum levels for cadmium in rice,
potatoes, wheat, vegetables, and mollusks.
[[Page 4089]]
20. Proposed draft code of practice for source directed measures to
reduce dioxin and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)
contamination of foods.
21. A discussion paper and proposed draft maximum levels for
chloropropanols in food.
22. Discussion paper on acrylamide in food with risk management
options for CCFAC to consider.
23. Discussion paper on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in food
with risk management options for CCFAC to consider.
24. Discussion paper on guideline levels for methylmercury in fish
with risk management options for CCFAC to consider.
25. Draft revised guideline levels for radionuclides in foods for
use in international trade.
26. Priority list of food additives, contaminants and naturally
occurring toxicants proposed for evaluation by JECFA.
Each issue listed will be fully described in documents distributed,
or to be distributed, by The Netherlands' Secretariat to the Meeting.
Members of the public may access or request copies of these documents
(see ADDRESSES).
Public Meeting
At the March 9, 2005, public meeting, the agenda items will be
described and discussed, and attendees will have the opportunity to
pose questions and offer comments. Written comments may be offered at
the meeting or sent to the U.S. Delegate, for the 37th Session of the
CCFAC, Dr. Terry Troxell (see ADDRESSES). Written comments should state
that they relate to activities of the 37th Session of the CCFAC.
Additional Public Notification
Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy
development is important. Consequently, in an effort to ensure that the
public and in particular minorities, women, and persons with
disabilities are aware of this notice, FSIS will announce it on-line
through the FSIS Web page. The Agency Web page is located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov
.
FSIS also will make copies of this Federal Register publication
available through the FSIS Constituent Update, which is used to provide
information regarding FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal
Register notices, FSIS public meetings, recalls, and other types of
information that could affect or would be of interest to our
constituents and shareholders. The update is communicated via Listserv,
a free e-mail subscription service consisting of industry, trade, and
farm groups, allied health professionals, scientific professionals, and
other individuals that have requested to be included. The update also
is available on the FSIS Web page. Through Listserv and the Web page,
FSIS is able to provide information to a much broader, more diverse
audience.
Done in Washington, DC on January 24, 2005.
F. Edward Scarbrough,
U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius.
[FR Doc. 05-1612 Filed 1-27-05; 8:45 am]