FSIS Reports on Codex Analysis & Sampling Committee Meeting on Food Trade, Etc.
The Food Safety and Inspection Service reports that the 33rd Session of the Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS) concluded on March 9 in Budapest, Hungary. The Committee focused on three main agenda items: the proposed draft Principles for the Use of Sampling and Testing in International Food Trade, the endorsement of methods of analysis provisions in Codex standards, and provisions on the use of propriety methods in Codex standards.
Specifically, the Committee focused on the following items:
Principles for the Use of Sampling and Testing in Int'l Food Trade. On the proposed draft Principles for the Use of Sampling and Testing in International Food Trade, the Committee agreed to consider only the principles and essential notes at an in-session Working Group and that the development of explanatory notes and examples should be considered at a later stage. The proposed draft Principles will be forwarded to the 35th Session (2012) of the Commission for adoption at Step 5; the explanatory notes and examples will be retained at Step 2/3, for development by electronic Working Group for consideration at the next session of CCMAS, scheduled for March 4-8, 2013, in Budapest, Hungary.
Methods of Analysis Provisions in Codex Standards. On endorsement of methods of analysis provisions in Codex standards, the Committee considered the various proposed methods and made numerous editorial changes and amendments. The most notable changes were to some methods for dietary fiber that CCMAS had previously endorsed for the Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU). Since the last CCMAS session, an electronic Working Group considered the elaboration of a decision tree for the selection of available methods for dietary fiber, because some of the previously endorsed "Type 1" methods could cause confusion for analysts. The Committee could not agree on whether such guidance would be best provided in a Codex document or by an external publication. In the end, the Committee opted to revise the "Dietary Fiber Methodology—What is measured and what is not measured" and to provide the new version in a Conference Room Document available to the delegates.
Use of Proprietary Methods in Codex Standards. On the Use of Proprietary Methods in Codex Standards, CCMAS will submit to the Committee on General Principles (CCGP) the proposed definition for "proprietary method" and criteria to the to be added to the Principles for the Establishment of Codex Methods of Analysis of the Procedural Manual.