U.S. Codex Delegates Prepare for Upcoming Meetings

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has announced an October 13, 2010, public meeting in College Park, Maryland, to provide information and receive public comments on draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the 32nd Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) on November 1-5 in Santiago, Chile. The meeting will address a discussion paper on the “Inclusion of New Part B for Underweight Children in the Standard for Processed Cereal-Based Foods for Infants and Young Children.” Other agenda items will include (i) proposed revision of “Codex General Principles for the Addition of Essential Nutrients to Foods”, (ii) proposed revision to the “Guidelines on Formulated Supplementary Foods for Older Infants and Young Children”, and (iii) “Proposed Draft Nutrient Reference Values for Nutrients Associated with Risk of Diet-Related Noncommunicable Diseases for General Population.” See Federal Register, October 1, 2010.

FSIS has also announced a November 2 public meeting in Washington, D.C., on draft U.S. positions to be discussed at the 42nd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene November 29 through December 3 in Kampala, Uganda. Agenda items will include a microbiological risk assessment progress report and information from the World Organization for Animal Health. Other agenda items will include (i) proposed draft guidelines for the control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat; (ii) proposed draft guidelines on the “Application of General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Viruses in Food”; (iii) proposed draft revision of the “Recommended International Code of Hygenic Practice for Collecting, Processing, and Marketing of Natural Mineral Waters”; and (iv) proposed draft revision of the “Principles for the Establishment and Application of Microbiological Criteria for Foods.” See Federal Register, October 4, 2010.