Upcoming Codex Meeting to Discuss Food Labeling

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have announced an April 17, 2013, public meeting in Washington, D.C., to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions for discussion during the 41st Session of the Codex Committee on Food Labeling of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada, on May 14–17.

Agenda items include (i) implementation of the World Health Organization global strategy on diet, physical activity and health, including a proposed draft revision of the “Guidelines on Nutrition and Health Claims concerning Non-Addition of Sodium Salts”; (ii) guidelines for the production, processing, labeling, and marketing of organically produced foods, including use of ethylene as a sprouting inhibitor for onions and potatoes, and organic aquaculture; (iii) date marking; and (iv) the labeling of food derived from crops biofortified by natural selection. See Federal Register, January 31, 2013.