Codex Meeting to Target Food Contaminants

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration
have announced a March 12, 2013, public meeting in College Park, Maryland,
to provide information and receive public comments on agenda items and
draft U.S. positions for discussion at the 7th Session of the Codex Committee
on Contaminants in Foods in Moscow on April 8–12, 2013. Agenda items
include (i) proposed draft maximum levels for Deoxynivalenol in cereals and
cereal-based products; (ii) proposed draft revisions of maximum levels for
lead in selected commodities in the general standard for contaminants and
toxins in food and feed; (iii) a proposed draft code of practice for preventing
and reducing Ochratoxin A contamination in cocoa; and (iv) a discussion
paper on the development of a code of practice for preventing and reducing
arsenic contamination in rice. See Federal Register, February 27, 2013.