The comments will be heard at a public meeting set for October 8 and organized by the Office of the Acting Under Secretary for Food Safety, US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The meeting, to be held in College Park, Maryland, will canvass opinions in preparation for the 31st Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex), which will be held in Dusseldorf, Germany, on November 2- 6, 2009.
Codex: Setting standards
Codex, set up in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, sets international food standards and codes of practice.
The CCNFSDU was set up to advise Codex on general nutritional issues and to study specific nutritional problems assigned to it by Codex. It also drafts provisions concerning the nutritional aspects of foods and develops standards or guidelines for foods for special dietary uses.
On the agenda
Issues to be discussed at the public meeting include:
- List of methods for dietary fiber.
- Proposed draft additional or revised nutrient reference values for labeling purposes in the Codex guidelines on nutrition labeling.
- Proposal for new work to amend the Codex general principles for the addition of essential nutrients to foods (Revised).
- Proposal for new work to establish a standard for processed cereal-based foods for underweight infants and young children (Revised).
- Proposal to revise the Codex guidelines on formulated supplementary foods for older infants and young children (Revised).
In addition, a working group will meet on October 31 to discuss the development of nutrient reference values for nutrients associated with increased or decreased risk of non-communicable diseases.
Further information on the public meeting can be obtained from Doreen Chen-Moulec, Staff Officer, US Codex Office, Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), email: doreen.chen-moulec‘at’fsis.usda.gov.