The 30th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) adopted a large number of standards, confirmed risk analysis policies and procedures for several general subject committees, and made decisions on many other areas that significantly impact the work of Codex. The United States' Delegation was headed by Dr. Richard Raymond, Undersecretary for Food Safety, USDA.

Decisions on Officers

The Commission re-elected Dr. Claude Mosha (Tanzania) as Chairperson, as well as the Vice-Chairpersons Dr. Karen Hulebak (United States), Dr. Wim Van Eck (Netherlands) and Ms. Noraini Othman (Malaysia). Canada was named as the Member of the Codex Executive Committee elected on a geographic basis from North America; while Tonga was elected at the Regional Coordinator for the Coordinating Committee for North America and the Southwest Pacific (CCNASWP).

Decisions on Standards

Standards adopted at Step 8, Steps 5/8 and at Step 5 of the Accelerated Procedure
In addition to a number of food additive use levels and MRLs for pesticide residues and veterinary drugs, adopted texts include:

• Maximum Levels for Tin in Canned Foods (other than beverages) and Canned Beverages
• Standard for Table Grapes
• Code of Hygienic Practice for Eggs and Egg Products
• Guidelines for the Application of General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Listeria monocytogenes in Food
• Revised Standard for Infant Formula and Formula for Special Medical Purposes Intended for Infants
• Standards for 16 named cheeses (see below)
• Revision of Guidelines for Generic Official Certificate Formats and the Design, Production, Issuance and Use of Certificates
• Working Principles for Risk Analysis for Application by Governments
• Amendment to the Standard for Canned Sardines and Sardine-Type Products adding Clupea bendincki to the list of named species and associated labeling provisions

The adoption of the Amendment to the Standard for Canned Sardines and Sardine-Type Products, which had been the subject of extensive discussion over many years, was adopted without comment or difficulty.

Fifteen of the 16 named cheese standards were adopted without comment or modification. However, Switzerland objected to the adoption of the Emmental standard. The Chairman ruled that there was consensus to adopt standard, leading Switzerland to contest the Chair's ruling, saying that there was not consensus and offering an alternative proposal, which would have required the addition of a footnote specifying that the historic country of origin for this cheese was Switzerland. By contesting the Chair's ruling, Switzerland forced the Commission, according to FAO rules, to vote on adoption of Switzerland's alternative proposal. In the ensuing roll-call vote, the Swiss proposal was easily defeated and Emmental was adopted without modification.

Standards adopted at Step 5
In addition to multiple pesticide residue MRLs and food additive maximum permitted use levels, standards adopted at Step 5 included:

• Draft Amendment to the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods: Quantitative Declaration of Ingredients
• Draft Definition of Advertising in Relation to Nutrition and Health Claims
• Advisory Lists of Nutrient Compounds for Use in Foods for Special Dietary Uses Intended for Infants and Young Children
• Draft Code of Practice for the Reduction of 3-MCPD during the Production of Acid-Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (Acid-HVPs) and Products that contain Acid-HVPs.

Approved New Work
Fifteen (15) new work items were approved including the proposal to develop an Annex to the Guideline for the Conduct of Food Safety Assessment of Foods Derived from Recombinant-DNA Plants on Low-Level Presence of Recombinant-DNA Plant Material.

The Commission also approved new work to revise Section 3.2 (Health-Related Limits for Certain Substances) of the Codex Natural Mineral Water Standard (Codex Standard 108). To carry out this work, CAC reactivated the Codex Committee on Natural Mineral Water hosted by Switzerland for no more than two sessions with work to be done by 2009. The scope of the work is limited to revision of the Table appearing in Section 3.2 giving maximum limits for various elements and chemical compounds.

Revoked and Discontinued Standards
Nine (9) standards were revoked including those involving multiple out-dated pesticide residue MRLs and multiple outdated food additive specifications. Work was discontinued on three standards, including the use of natural sodium nitrate in the production of organic food.

CAC, as well as the Executive Committee, engaged in extensive discussions on the appropriateness of developing regional standards as opposed to international standards, applicable worldwide. A number of Regional Coordinating Committees, particularly CCASIA, are developing standards for products of interest to their regions. One issue is that the further development of these standards as international standards would be assigned to commodity committees with already heavy workloads (e.g. the Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables). Also, the development of certain regional standards for products using the same name but having different composition in other regions (e.g. chili sauce by CCASIA) raises additional complications. The Commission endorsed, on a temporary basis, the following proposal for regional standards with the understanding that the issue would be examined more closely by the Executive Committee at is next (60th) Session:

1. The commodity work of coordinating committees should concentrate on the development of regional standards. Conversion of a regional standard into a worldwide standard should, in principle, be considered after its adoption at Step 8.
2. The proposal for new work for commodities having an international trade potential should preferably be submitted through a worldwide commodity committee if such a committee exists and is active, or in other cases, to the Commission through the Executive Committee.

Decisions on Codex Policies and Procedures

Amendments to the Rules of Procedure
The Commission approved changes to the Codex Rules of Procedure to clarify the role of Members of the Executive Committee elected on a geographic basis versus those elected as regional coordinators. In this regard, the CAC agreed that Members elected on a geographic basis should represent Codex generally while those elected as regional coordinators should represent the interests of their respective regions.

Amendments to Other Sections of the Codex Procedural Manual

The Commission:

• Adopted several texts that provide implementing guidance on risk analysis policies and procedures for both the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues and Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods. The Commission also amended a previously approved risk analysis text from the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants to reflect the new Codex Committees on Food Additives, and on Contaminants in Food.
• Adopted procedures for the entry and review of food additive provisions in the General Standard for Food Additives.
• Amended the Principles for the Establishment or Selection of Codex Sampling Procedures.
• Adopted updates to the section of the Procedural Manual relating to the format of Codex standards and the relations between commodity committees and general subject committees to reflect the change from CCFAC to CCFA and CCCF.
• Adopted a definition for "Codex maximum level for a contaminant in a food or feed commodity."
• Adopted amendments to the format for Codex commodity standards relating to contaminants and providing generic wording for reference to contaminant maximum levels in Codex commodity standards.
• Adopted amendments to the Codex "Guide to Procedure for the Revision and Amendment of Codex Standards and Arrangements for the Amendments of Codex Standards Elaborated by Codex Committees which have Adjourned Sine Die."
• Adopted amendments to the "Principles of the Codex Alimentarius" reinstating a principle stating that "Codex standards and related texts are not a substitute for, or alternative to, national legislation. Every country's laws and administrative procedures contain provision with which it is essential to comply."
• Amended provisions relating to participation of international non-governmental organizations in the work of Codex to require all INGOs to meet current criteria rather than criteria applicable at the time of their approval.

Decisions on Codex Operations

Codex Committee on Fats and Oils
The Commission selected Malaysia to be the new host country for the Codex Committee for Fats and Oils.

Codex Committee Structure
The CAC had a limited discussion on the eleven proposals relating to the review of Codex committee structure and mandates, and:

• Agreed to set an indicative upper limit on the number of Codex committee/task force sessions at forty (40) for a biennium.
• Agreed to set a target upper limit of 18 for the number of Codex committee/task force subsidiary bodies (excluding regional coordinating committees) that could co-exist at one time.
• Agreed that Codex committees should consider adopting longer inter-session intervals with the understanding that a structured inter-session working mechanism should then be put into place (e.g., physical and electronic working groups).
• Agreed that the duration of a Codex session should be kept within seven days including pre-session working groups.

However, with the exception of regional standards (discussed above), the Commission did not discuss several other important proposals, including the use of task forces; merging or dissolving committees, relationships between committees, and the role of private standards.

Financial and Budgetary Matters
The Commission had a general discussion on financial and budgetary matters. The Commission noted the budget for the current biennium and the budget for the 2008-2009 biennium and received updates from FAO and WHO on their respective contributions to the Codex budget. The CAC requested FAO/WHO to increase the budget to cover costs of including Russian as a language for meetings of the Commission and CCEUROPE, should FAO decide that Russian become a working language. Also, the Commission discussed the use of Portuguese for interpretation at meetings of CCAFRICA. The CAC briefly noted a Discussion Paper prepared by the Secretariat on "Alternative Funding Mechanisms" for Codex, including mandatory or voluntary contributions. The Commission requested that the Executive Committee consider the issue of alternative funding mechanisms at its next (60th) Session in December 2007.

Strategic Planning
The Commission considered the draft Codex Strategic Plan for 2008-13 including comments on the plan provided by the Codex Executive Committee at its 59th session immediately preceding this Commission meeting. The Commission made a few adjustments to the Plan based on country comments and noted Australia's proposal for Codex to develop a biennial implementing business plan based on the priority of work identified in the Plan. The Commission adopted the 2008-2013 Strategic Plan.

Decisions on Other Matters

Lactoperoxidase
The Commission considered a referral from the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) on the use of the Lactoperoxidase System as an antibacterial preservative mechanism in raw milk. Similar to CCFH, a variety of views on the use of the Lactoperoxidase System, both for and against, were presented. With no consensus, the CAC referred the matter back to CCFH but requested that a Circular Letter be issued, requesting countries to provide in-depth scientific information with the respect to the advantages or disadvantages of the use of the Lactoperoxidase System. CCFH will consider the matter at its 2007 Session and report back to the CAC's next session.

WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
The CAC had a limited discussion on the WHO Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health which involved brief comments by WHO and FAO, and brief reports from the Chairpersons of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses and the Codex Committee on Food Labelling. Due to limited time, there was no general discussion on the matter and the CAC noted that it would further consider the Strategy at the CAC's next Session following further consideration on the matter by CCFL in 2008.

Procedures for the Elaboration of Codex Standards and Related Texts
The Commission considered a number of proposals from India, which had previously been considered by CCGP over a number of sessions, relating to the establishment of Codex standards/related texts including items related to decision-making by consensus, special consideration of the needs of developing countries and the critical review process. The CAC agreed that the issues associated with developing countries and the critical review process were being adequately addressed through current Codex procedures.

Regarding the use of consensus, the Commission agreed that the subject should be further considered within CCGP. To help prepare CCGP for this discussion, CAC agreed that: 1) the issue be discussed at the 60th Session of Codex Executive Committee, including how to request input from chairpersons of Codex committees/task forces on their experience with the application of existing Codex Procedural Manual provisions on "Measures to Facilitate Consensus;" and, 2) that the results of the CCEXEC discussion and the findings from Codex Chairpersons be complied into a Discussion Paper for consideration by CCGP at its next (2009) Session.

Enforcement of MRLs at the National Level
As a result of comments brought forward by several Members, the CAC briefly considered the issue of Codex MRLs enforced at the national level. The CAC noted the discussion on this item that had occurred at the Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues and at the 59th Session of the Codex Executive Committee, particularly with respect to the problem of countries imposing pesticide residue MRLs that were stricter than Codex MRLs and the limited ability of developing countries to cope with this situation. The Secretariat confirmed that this issue was outside the mandate of the Commission and would be better addressed in other venues including FAO/WHO Regional Coordinating Committees and the WTO SPS Committee. The commission noted Members concern relating to technical assistance and capacity building to help resolve concerns in this area.

Reports Received
The CAC received several reports including the following:

• From FAO/WHO on the provision of Scientific Advice;
• From FAO/WHO on the provision of technical assistance;
• From FAO/WHO on the operation of the Codex Trust Fund;
• From WTO, particularly on SPS Committee activities;
• From the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), particularly with respect to areas related to the work of Codex;
• From the International Standards Organization on ISO operations, particularly with respect to areas related to the work of Codex; and,
• From the International Organization of Vine and Wine (OIV), particularly with respect to areas related to the work of Codex.