A summary of recent and upcoming events published biweekly; direct inquiries to USCodex@fsis.usda.gov

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Upcoming Public Meetings:
Three public meetings have been set for Codex meetings that will occur this fall:

• Codex Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems will hold a public meeting from 11 a .m. to 12:30 p.m. on October 4 in Room 0161 of USDA’s South Building, 12th and Independence, Washington, DC. Call-in number: 1-888-858-2144; passcode 6208658.
• Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses will hold a public meeting from 1-4:00 p.m. on October 20 in Room 1A-001 of the FDA Harvey Wiley Building, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, MD. Call-in number: 1-866-859-5767; passcode 2225276.
• The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene will hold a public meeting from 1-4:00 p.m. on November 15 in Room 107-A of USDA’s Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, Washington, DC. Call-in number: 1-888-858-2144; passcode 6208658.

At the meetings, the U.S. Delegates will describe the issues before the Committees and the draft U.S. positions.

New Working Groups:
Committee on Food Labeling (CCFL) has initiated two electronic working groups (eWG):

• Organic Foods: The United States will chair an eWG to review substances proposed for inclusion in Annex 2 (Permitted Substances for the Production of Organic Foods) of the Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labelling and Marketing of Organically Produced Foods. The eWG is preparing for the 40th CCFL Session (May 2012). Codex Members and Observers interested in participating in the eWG should provide the names of their designated representatives, together with the representatives positions, affiliations and email addresses, to uscodex@fsis.usda.gov by August 26.
• Standardized Common Names: Canada and Hungary invite Codex members and observers countries to participate in an eWG to prepare an inventory of existing Codex texts related to modified standardized common names that could serve to inform Codex members wishing to promote healthier food options, drawing on previous discussion papers and reports on this issue and recognizing that there is no consensus to undertake new work. The report of the eWG will be considered at the next session of CCFL in May 2012. Interested parties should, through their relevant Codex Contact Points, send the name of their designated representatives, together with the contact's position, affiliation and email address, to Kathy.Twardek@inspection.gc.ca and attila.voros@vm.gov.hu by September 9 with copies to codex_canada@hc-sc.gc.ca and to HU_codexCP@mebih.gov.hu

Committee on Fats & Oils: Iran will leave a working group on cold pressed oils. Codex Members and Observers interested in participating in the eWG to provide, through their relevant Codex Contact Points, the names of their designated representatives, together with the representatives positions, affiliations and email addresses, to hamedsafa@yahoo.com with copy to zpiravi@gmail.com. No deadline was specified in the invitation.

Committee on Fish & Fisheries Products (CCFFP): The European Union and the United States will lead an eWG (1) to review the food additive provisions in adopted standards, with the objective of aligning them with the GSFA and if necessary, propose changes to the GSFA, taking into account the “Proposed Procedure” outlined in Appendix I of the 39th CCFFP session (April 2011); and (2) to review the additive section in the Draft Standard for Smoked Fish and prepare a revised section for finalization at the next session of CCFFP (October 2012). Codex Members and Observers interested in participating should provide the names, official positions, institutions and email addresses of their representatives before September 1 to uscodex@fsis.usda.gov and codex@ec.europa.eu

Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR): The Netherlands will chair an eWG on the revision of the classification for the development of new commodity groups for several types of vegetables, including the further elaboration of Table 1 on Selection and Examples of Representative Commodities of the Principles and Guidance for the Selection of Representative Commodities for the Extrapolation of Maximum Residue Limits for Pesticides for Commodity Groups to correspond with the revision of the Classification for vegetable groups. The United States will co-chair this eWG. Codex Members and Observers interested in participating in the electronic working group to provide the names, official positions, institutions and email addresses of their representatives to e.muller@minlnv.nl by August 31.

Request for Comments:

Committee on Food Additives (CCFA): The People's Republic of China requests comments on the draft revision of the Standard for Food Grade Salt (CODEX STAN 150-1985); and draft provision for carotenoids in food category 02.1.2 Vegetable oils and fats of the General Standard on Food Additives (GSFA). Governments and international organizations should send their comments to secretariat@ccfa.cc, with copies to codex@fao.org by January 15, 2012. The document for review is Appendix VI in the document available at: ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/Reports_2011/REP11_FAe.pdf.

Other News:

Veterinary Drugs: An updated version of the on-line Codex Veterinary Drug Residues in Food Database is now available at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/vetdrugs/data/index.html.