Sludge Watch ==> CODEX ALIMENTARIUS - cadmium in food - task force on antimicrobial resistance

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin:

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is an international commission that sets 
standards for levels of contaminants in food (like cadmium or dioxin).  This 
is of interest related to sludge, since it may mean that foods grown in 
sludge ammended soils may contain excessive levels of toxins.

Think of cadmium levels in potatoes.
.........................................................................................................


Codex Alimentarius Commission adopts new standards; Further improvements in 
consumer protection

11.jul.06
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
FAO Press Release

http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000361/index.html

Rome/Geneva - The Codex Alimentarius Commission, which ended its latest 
session on 7 July, adopted new standards on the maximum allowable levels of 
a number of key contaminants and food additives in order to protect the 
health of consumers.

The standards set the maximum allowable amounts of contaminants such as lead 
and cadmium in certain foods. Additionally, newly adopted codes of practice 
will give guidance to governments on how to prevent and reduce dioxins and 
aflatoxins in food.

Moreover, many of the standards adopted will contribute to greater choice 
for consumers, as the establishment of international standards for several 
milk-based products and for instant noodles, for example, will facilitate 
their international trade and enable them to reach consumers worldwide.
"This has been an extraordinarily productive session, attended by a record 
number of 110 countries and approximately 400 delegates. The attendance of 
24 countries was supported by the Codex trust fund," said Claude Mosha of 
Tanzania, Chairperson of the Codex Commission.

"We have passed a range of standards which will make a substantial 
difference in the safety and quality of the food people eat. In addition, 
people in developing countries will have the ability to earn better livings 
through trading these foods internationally," he added.

Protecting consumers' health was a major theme of the standards adopted. The 
contaminants considered during this session have considerable health 
impacts.

Lead can cause a wide range of disorders, including anaemia and hepatic and 
neurological disorders and food can be a major route of exposure. Cadmium 
can provoke kidney damage after long periods of exposure. Aflatoxins cause 
liver cancer and dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) 
are both highly toxic as well as carcinogenic.

The new standards adopted will go a long way towards protecting human 
health, as they set out new, maximum limits for lead in fish, cadmium in 
rice, marine bivalve molluscs and cephalopods. New codes of practice for 
reducing aflatoxin contamination in Brazil nuts, and dioxin and dioxin-like 
PCB contamination in food and feed will help countries take measures to 
protect consumers from exposure to these substances.

Task force on antimicrobial resistance

Codex also created a Task Force to address the issue of antimicrobial 
resistance in food of animal origin. This Task Force will have a mandate to 
develop risk assessment policies and strategies to reduce food safety risks 
associated with certain uses of antimicrobials in animal production, 
including aquaculture.

The Commission further addressed several organizational issues during the 
week-long session. It split the existing Codex Committee on Food Additives 
and Contaminants because of its large workload and created two new 
specialized committees, the Codex Committee on Food Additives and the Codex 
Committee on Contaminants in Food.
China was designated by the membership as host of the Food Additives 
Committee, and also of the Committee on Pesticide Residues, while the 
Netherlands was designated as host to the Committee on Contaminants in Food.

Mr Claude J S Mosha (Tanzania) was re-elected as the Chairperson of the 
Commission. Ms Karen Hulebak (United States), Ms Noraini M Othman (Malaysia) 
and Mr Wim Van Eck (Netherlands) were re-elected as the Commission's three 
Vice-Chairpersons.
The Commission currently meets once a year to review and eventually adopt 
international food standards, guidelines and recommendations developed by 
its network of 21 specialist committees that address technical issues 
associated with these texts. It meets in alternate years in Rome and Geneva.

The excellent attendance rate at the last session enabled the Commission to 
reach a quorum and to pass important changes to its rules of procedure as 
part of the reform process.
"Codex is one of the best examples where an international forum with 
parallel objectives of promoting public health and food trade can achieve 
win-win solutions through negotiations based on sound science and conducted 
in the spirit of cooperation," commented Mr Mosha.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is the international food standards 
setting body of the United Nations, a joint venture of the FAO and the World 
Health Organization (WHO). It is the longest-standing example of interagency 
cooperation in the UN system. It has 173 Member States and one Member 
Organization (the European Community).