Proceedings of Workshop on CODEX …...2013/11/02 · Codex Alimentarius Commission delivered the...

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Proceedings of 1st Workshop

Proceedings of Workshop on

CODEX ALIMENTARIUS: PRINCIPLES & PROCEDURES

2nd

August, 2013

New Delhi

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WORKSHOP ON CODEX ALIMENTARIUS: PRINCIPLES & PROCEDURES

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) organized a workshop on “Codex

Alimentarius: Principles and Procedures” on 2nd

August, 2013 in New Delhi. While

welcoming the participants, Ms Vinod Kotwal, Director (Codex) shared her experience of

being associated as National Codex Contact Point of India and the developments so far. She

emphasized that the main endeavour of FSSAI is to create awareness amongst the

stakeholders and ensure active participation from their side. Shri S. Dave, as the Chairman,

Codex Alimentarius Commission delivered the key note address appreciating the efforts of

NCCP, India and also threw light on issues relevant to Codex such as harmonization of

Indian Standards and SPS/TBT Matters. NCCP India has always felt the need to interact with

all the stakeholders on a regular basis in an interactive manner. Towards this end, NCCP

India came out with an electronic newsletter to share news/views with the stakeholders. Shri

K. Chandramouli, Chairperson, FSSAI released the first issue of the E-newsletter,

Connect@CodexIndia on FSSAI Website. Shri Chandramouli in his inaugural address noted

that though India has come a long way in Codex Meetings, however, we still follow a

reactive approach and not a proactive approach. There is a need to build our expertise in the

subject matter so that India makes meaningful contribution in every meeting of Codex

Committees and the comments of India are well received.

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TECHNICAL SESSION 1

10:30 A.M. – 01:00 P.M.

1. Shri S. Dave, Advisor, FSSAI - Codex Alimentarius Commission: Introduction

Shri S. Dave focussed on the basic information about Codex Alimentarius, its

structure and relevance. He mentioned that Codex is an intergovernmental body of the United

Nations with 185 member countries and 1 member organization. The function of Codex is to

adopt science based standards with the mandate of safety of health of consumers and fair

practices in trade. He mentioned that the Executive Committee of the Commission consists of

Chairperson, 3 Vice-Chairpersons, 6 Regional Co-ordinators and 6 Members from each

region. There are 10 General Subject Committees, 7 Commodity Committees, 6 Regional

Coordinating Committees and 2 Ad hoc Intergovernmental Task Forces. Further, the

scientific advice to Codex is provided by JECFA (Jt. Expert Committee on Food Additives),

JMPR (Jt. Meeting on Pesticide Residues), JEMRA (Jt. Expert Committee on

Microbiological Risk Assessment) and JEMNU (Jt. FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on

Nutrition).

The talk focussed on the issues that are relevant to developing countries and the issues

that are of particular importance to India such as:

Fresh Fruits and Vegetables : Okra, Pomegranates, Grapes, Potatoes, Onion

Spices, FFV

Tea, Coffee

Nutrition related issues

Marine, Dairy, Poultry, Meat Products

Additives / Contaminants / Veterinary Drugs / Labeling / Inspection / Methods of Analysis

/ Street Foods

Equivalence / Traceability (organic, grapes)

He gave a way forward for India to harmonize standards

with Codex, introduce guidance texts for small business / farmers (e.g., GAP, GMP, GHP,

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conformity assessment), Strengthen laboratory network, Invest in Scientific Risk Assessment,

Play an active role in Codex (NCCP, WGs, CCSp. be visible), Engage in equivalence

negotiations and thereby, Make the country strong in Codex Activities.

2. Ms Vinod Kotwal, Director (Codex), FSSAI - Codex Procedural Manual

Ms Kotwal made the presentation on Codex Procedural Manual, which is the

foundation for Codex Functioning and Codex Documentation. She explained the structure

and the network of Codex, which was also discussed by Shri Dave. She explained in detail

about the various documents that are circulated by the Codex Secretariat, which are:

Codex Procedural Manual

ALINORMs

Committee working papers (CXs)

Circular Letters (CLs)

Conference Room Documents (CRDs)

Limited distribution documents (LIM)

Information documents (INF)

Adopted texts.

She explained that the Codex Procedural

Manual outlines the agreed set of rules to ensure that the Commission and its subsidiary

bodies work in a uniform manner and it is intended to help member countries to participate

effectively in the work of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. The Manual

contains the Statutes of the Commission and rules of procedure, guidelines for the operation

of Committees and Task Forces and the information on how the Commission carries out its

work, including the reference system for Codex documents. Codex Committee on General

Principles is responsible for updating the Manual, and such amendments are considered

regularly by the Commission. She then elaborated on the various Codex Documents that are

circulated by the Codex Secretariat. All Codex documents contain a reference number which

is unique to that document. She explained to the participants on how to read the reference of a

document and the meaning of each code. She further emphasized on the 8 step procedure

that is followed in Codex and strict adherence to these steps is essential. Since the amount of

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papers that are circulated by the Codex Secretariat are huge, it is also equally important to

organize them appropriately. The organization of Codex Documents depends on the Codex

Committee that you wish to participate and send your comments on. As all the Codex

Documents are available electronically, it is now quite easy to organize them in various

folders.

3. Ms Sakshi Gambhir, Technical Officer, Codex Cell, FSSAI - Conducting Shadow

Committee Meetings: Procedure followed by NCCP India

Ms Sakshi Gambhir talked about the procedure that is followed by NCCP, India in

conducting the Shadow Committee Meetings. Her talk focussed on what a shadow committee

is, its role and the composition. For each Codex Committee, a parallel Shadow Committee

has been constituted in India that works for that particular Codex Committee. “Shadow

Committee” means the Committees of the National Codex Committee constituted by the

Food Authority for reviewing the agenda of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its

subsidiary Committees and finalizing India’s comments on various agenda items. The various

shadow committees are:

1. Shadow Committee on Core Issues – FSSAI, MoHFW

2. Shadow Committee on Processed Fruits Products, Food Additives & Contaminants in

foods –FSSAI, MoHFW

3. Shadow Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) – FSSAI, MoHFW

4. Shadow Committee on Fats & Oils, Sugar and Cereals, Pulses & Legumes –FSSAI,

MoHFW

5. Shadow Committee on Food Import and Export Inspection and Certification Systems

(CCFICS) – Ministry of Commerce (MoC)

6. Shadow Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS) – FSSAI, MoHFW

7. Shadow Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) –

Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD)

8. Shadow Committee on residues of Pesticides & Veterinary Drugs in Foods - Ministry of

Agriculture

9. Shadow Committee on Fish and Fishery Products (CCFFP) - Ministry of Agriculture

(Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries)

10. Shadow Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CCFFV) – Ministry of Agriculture

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Most of the Shadow Committees are with FSSAI and

some are with other line Ministries/Departments since the expertise required to manage these

committees are with these Ministries, and therefore, it was very important to follow a uniform

streamlined procedure of conducting meetings and formulating India’s viewpoints. She

mentioned that the important function of a shadow committee is to provide a forum for

discussion and thereafter, to finalise India’s viewpoints. The shadow committee stakeholders

include representatives from various ministries, educational institutions, industry associations

and experts and scientist from concerned areas. She explained the entire process of finalising

the India’s viewpoints that is followed at FSSAI.

4. Shri Adtiya Jain, Manager (QA), National Dairy Development Board - Guidance on

how to prepare National Response or National Viewpoint on Codex Matters

Shri Aditya Jain gave a presentation on how to prepare National viewpoints on

various Codex issues. The entire process consists of following steps:

Obtaining documents

Identifying concerns

Developing comments

Debating and refining

Presentation of comments

Analysis of some past comments

The documents are available at Codex website

www.codexalimentarius.org and are also distributed by the NCCP, India. It is first important

to identify the documents of relevance based on the competence we have to comment on the

http://www.codexalimentarius.org/

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subject matter. To identify the concerns, it is required to read the document carefully and to

correlate with past versions and to locate new concerns arising due to changes. Then he

talked about the development of comments and also providing justification for the comments.

The comments should first be discussed among the colleagues, then within the organization,

thereafter among the organizations and finally should be discussed in the shadow committee.

To refine the comments, check with science, data, previous decisions, consistency

with/contradiction to existing texts and the Procedure. It needs to be consciously decided at

every stage of refinement if it is necessary to send written comments and in what form. It is

also important to provide notes for the delegation wherever required. He also gave some

examples of how to present the comments. The comments should be divided into two parts:

General and Specific.

The important points to be kept in mind are:

Specific comment: Clear and accurate reference to the text being commented upon

Proposed amendments

Insertions- Bold and underline; deletions- strikethrough (may also be bold)

Not to use ‘track change’

Not to use colours

Not to reproduce excessive text

Rationale for every comment

Note to delegation

5. Shri Anil Mehta, Designated and Authorised Officer, FSSAI - Follow Up Action by

the Delegation

Shri Anil Mehta made presentation on a very

important component of the entire process involved with Codex Meetings, ie, debriefing

meeting, wherein, the delegation identify the concerns and necessary action that have to be

taken after the meeting is over. The leader of the delegation should submit a report of

participation to the NCCP. The report should be submitted within a period of 30 working days

after the session/meeting is over. The report should essentially contain additional agenda

items/notes tabled in the meeting and the conference room documents/discussion papers

circulated by other Member Countries. The delegation report should also contain the reports

of the in–session Working Groups. The delegation report should include possible strategies

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for the next session. He shared an example of the Codex Committee on Food Additive,

wherein a number of ewgs were established by the Committee. However, the delegation

identified the important ewgs after the session was over and India participated only in the

identified ewgs.

The Technical Session I was concluded by Question and Answer round giving an opportunity

to the participants to ask questions from the panel members.

TECHNICAL SESSION II

02:00 – 04:00 P.M.

1. Ms Abhilasha Tanwar, Scientist (IV) 2, FSSAI - Submitting a new work proposal in

Codex

Ms Abhilasha Tanwar made a presentation on how to prepare a new work proposal

and submit it in Codex. She mentioned that the foremost thing is to identify whether new

work falls under the mandate of Codex? She focussed her presentation on the various

parameters that should be covered in a project document and provide justification to the new

work, which are as follows:

Purpose and Scope

Criteria for establishment of work priorities

Information on relation between proposal and other existing Codex Documents

Identification of requirement of expert advice

Identification of need for technical inputs to the standard from external bodies

Proposed timelines for completion of work

She also mentioned about the criteria to be looked into for a commodity standard and

for a general standard. The criteria for developing a commodity standard are:

Volume of production, consumption and pattern of trade

Diversification of National legislation

International or regional market potential

Amenability of Commodity to standardization

Existing or proposed general standard

Number of commodities covered

Work already taken by other international organizations

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The criteria for developing a general standard are:

Diversification of National Legislation

Scope of the work

Work already undertaken by other International organization

Amenability of subject

Global magnitude of the problem

She also elaborated on the procedure for getting a new

work approved. The project document is first submitted in the Committee. The Committee

after deliberations approved it and forwards it to the Executive Committee for critical review.

If the CCEXEC finds the project document suitable, it forwards it to the Commission for

approval.

The presentation also included a list of new work proposals that have been approved

by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and some of which are under process, such as:

Inclusion for a New Part B for underweight Children in the Standard for Processed

Cereal-Based foods for Infants and Young Children (CCNFSDU)

Proposed Standard for Okra (CCFFV)

Proposed Code of Hygienic Practice for Street Vended Foods (CCASIA)

Proposed Standard for Ware Potato (CCFFV)

Developing general standard for labelling of wholesale packages of food (CCFL)

Establishment of Maximum level for total aflatoxin in Ready-to-eat peanuts (CCCF)

She also mentioned some of the new works that can be suggested by India such as:

Proposal for Standard for Sapota (CCFFV/CCASIA)

Proposal for Standard for Gourds (Annexes for bitter gourd/bottle gourd etc.) (CCFFV)

Proposal for establishment of MRLs for Chlormequat Chloride in Grapes (CCPR)

Proposal for establishment MRLs for Isoprothiolane in Rice (CCPR)

Proposal for establishment MLs for Aflatoxin in Spices (CCCF)

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Proposals for development of commodities standards under Codex Committee on Spices

and Culinary Herbs

Proposal for Code of Practice for hygienic and wholesome food for School Children

(CCFH/CCNFSDU)

2. Dr. Himanshu Gupta, FICCI –CIFTI Codex Cell - Scientific Basis of Codex

Dr. Himanshu Gupta focussed his talk primarily on what forms the basis of Codex:

The Science. Codex committees, while developing standards, apply risk analysis and rely on

the independent scientific advice provided by expert bodies organized by FAO/WHO.

He explained about the three FAO/WHO expert committees:

• Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)

• Joint FAO/WHO Meetings on Pesticide Residues (JMPR)

• Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA)

The Main Principles for developing scientific advice

are Excellence, Independence, Transparency and Universality. He also mentioned that risk

analysis within Codex is a structured, systematic process that examines the potential adverse

health effect consequential to a hazard or condition of a food, and develops options for

mitigating that risk. The whole risk analysis process includes risk assessment, risk

communication and risk management. The International risk assessors are JECFA, JMPR,

JRMRA & Adhoc expert consultations and the International risk manager is the Codex

Alimentarius Commission.

3. Ms Sukhmani Singh, Technical Officer, Codex Cell, FSSAI - Participation in the

EWGs

Electronic Working Groups, i.e., Ewgs are one of the most important stages to make

an intervention since all the discussions and deliberations happen electronically through these

ewgs. Ms Sukhmani Singh provided guidance on how to participate in these ewgs and the

important points for every ewg participant. EWGs have been developed in Codex to enhance

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the participation from all member countries and to reach consensus. An eWG is established

at the plenary session by the Committee. Codex Committee decides that the eWG will

be managed by the Host Government Secretariat or by another member of the

Commission which has volunteered to undertake this responsibility. EWG’s membership

is notified to the Chairperson of the Codex Committee and to the Host country

Secretariat of the Committee.

She also talked about how an ewg works starting from circulation of an invitation

upto the finalising of the report for consideration by that Codex Committee, as follows:

The Host is responsible for the management of the eWG for which it has been

appointed.

A notice or kick-off message is prepared indicating the timeline where the start and

end of the program is displayed about particular work and is distributed to all members

and Observers who have been nominated.

The Draft of that particular work for an eWG is prepared and is circulated to the

participants and call of comments are requested from them.

The Comments by the participants are submitted by electronic means.

A compilation of these comments and other contributions received are sent to the

number of countries/ participants who participated in the eWG.

An update of the progress of the work is presented by the Host at each session of the

Codex Committee which has established it.

Once the work is finished of an eWG, the Host Secretariat sends the copy of the final

conclusions in the form of discussion paper or a working document along with the list

of participants to the Codex Secretariat and to the Host Country Secretariat of the

Committee.

The Codex Secretariat then forwards these to the Codex Contact Points and

Observers.

The Codex Secretariat ensures that these conclusions are included in the distribution

papers for the next session of the Codex Committee, which has established the eWG.

She also shared various examples of various ewgs

where India has been a participant and ewg where India is the host. NCCP India faces a lot of

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challenges while nominating the right expert for a particular ewg and then submitting the

comments on time. Therefore, it becomes very important for the stakeholders to come

forward with their active participation and give their nominations for the ewgs. Also,

sometimes the comments which are provided by our stakeholders for an Ewg sometimes

are mere statement. So, it is important that the comments should be backed by data.

4. Shri Karthikeyan, Assistant Director, FSSAI - Harmonization of FSS Standards

with Codex Standards: Where do we stand?

Shri Karthikeyan made a presentation on harmonizing the Indian Standards in line

with the Codex Standards. He also touched upon the other important agreements under World

Trade Organization (WTO) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS). The need for

harmonization was felt to consider the latest development in food science across the globe,

food consumption pattern, new specifications, presence of new contaminants and toxins as

well as use of new food additives and ingredients required by the producers and

manufacturers in food business. Under the TBT and the SPS Agreement of the WTO, it is

mentioned that countries to use relevant international standards when they exist. CODEX and

WTO members should upgrade National Food Standards and Regulations based on

harmonization with Codex; get involved with Codex work; Strengthen National Food Control

Systems; and Ensure efficient importing and exporting inspection and certification systems.

He described in detail the process undertaken by FSSAI to

harmonize the standards and how the various stakeholders have been engaged in working

groups. The Authority has established 76 working groups to complete the work. The work is

expected to be completed by December 2014. The revision of vertical standards require first

to review the Food Safety Regulations and then initiate the revision process, to identify

products where we have no FSSR but there are Codex/other international standards and then

creation of standards for other (ethnic) products. The revision of horizontal standards involve

review standards for additives, contaminants, etc. for harmonisation with GSFA/GSCTFF,

then to harmonise ingredients/ nutrients and thereafter to develop Codes of Practice for

uniform application across vertical standards.

The Technical Session II was concluded by Question and Answer round giving an

opportunity to the participants to ask questions from the panel members.

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PANEL DISCUSSION

04:30 – 05:30 P.M.

The panel discussion was moderated by Shri S. Dave, Advisor, FSSAI and the panellists

were:

Dr. Lalitha Gowda, CFTRI, Mysore

Dr. S.K. Saxena, Director, EIC

Shri Ajit Chavan, Deputy Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce

& Industry

Ms Shreya Pandey, FICCI-CIFTI Codex cell

Mr Prabodh Halde, Joint Convener, The Solvent Extractors Association of India

The panellists discussed the role of laboratories and institutes in collecting the data, risk

analysis principle in India and the work ahead.

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The workshop was concluded by Ms Vinod Kotwal with the following action points:

Conducting more such awareness workshop for Research Institutes

Setting up Risk Assessment body

Developing a strategy document on functioning of NCCP, India

Increasing the collaboration with the stakeholders

Developing links with other member countries

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