Host Government: The Netherlands

The Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF) establishes or endorses permitted maximum levels (ML) and, where necessary, revises existing guidelines levels for contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants in food and feed; prepares priority lists of contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants for risk assessment by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives; considers and elaborates methods of analysis and sampling for the determination of contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants in food and feed; considers and elaborates standards or codes of practice for related subjects; and considers other matters assigned to it by the Commission in relation to contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants in food and feed.

The Committee held its Fifth Session in The Hague, Netherlands, from March 21-25, 2011. The relevant document is REP11/CF. The following items are to be considered for adoption at Step 5/8 by the 34th Session of the Commission in July 2011:

• Proposed draft Code of Practice for the Prevention and Reduction of Ethyl Carbamate in Stone Fruit Distillates
• Proposed draft Maximum Levels for Melamine in Food (Liquid Infant Formula)

The Committee established or reconvened working groups to:

• Develop proposed draft Maximum Levels for DON and its Acetylated Derivatives in Cereals and Cereal-based Products, including the possibility of revising the existing Code of Practice for the Prevention and Reduction of Mycotoxin Contamination in Cereals
• Develop Guidance for Risk Management Options on How to Deal with the Results from New Risk Assessment Methodologies focusing on (1) a description of different risk assessment outcomes in language understandable for risk managers, and (2) the implication of the outcomes and possible risk management options
• Update the discussion paper on Ochratoxin in Cocoa with a view toward discussing at the 6th session of CCFH a possible Code of Practice
• Update the discussion paper relative to the Code of Practice for the Prevention and Reduction of Mycotoxin Contamination in Cereals to determine its relevance to Sorghum, so as to provide background for discussions at the 6th CCCF on the possibility of developing an annex pertaining to Aflatoxins in grain sorghum
• Compile exiting management practices for Pyrrolizidine Alkaloids for consideration by the 6th session of CCCF of a Code of Practice
• Develop MLs for Arsenic in rice, specifying whether they apply to total and/or inorganic Arsenic in rice

The Committee decided to continue work on:

• Proposed draft Maximum Level for Total Aflatoxins in Dried Figs
• Editorial amendments to the General Standard on Contaminants and Toxins in Food and Feed

The Committee decided to initiate new work on:

• Reconsidering Maximum Levels for Lead, focusing on foods important to infants and children, and also on canned fruits and vegetables

The Committee endorsed the following priority list of contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants for JECFA evaluation:

• 3-MCPD esters
• Glycidyl esters
• Pyrrolizidine alkaloids
• Non dioxin-like PCBs

Delegate's Report of the Fifth Session of the Committee held in The Hague, The Netherlands, March 21-25, 2011

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