WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  G/TBT/GEN/113 
19 April 2011 
 (11-2026) 
Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade Original:   English 
  
 
INFORMATION ON ACTIVITIES OF THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION 
 
  The following information was provided by the Codex Alimentarius Commission
 at the 
TBT Committee meeting of 24-25 March 2011.  
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I. CODEX SESSIONS SINCE THE LAST MEETING OF THE TBT COMMITTEE  
(3-4 NOVEMBER 2010) 
a) Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Ve getables (Bali, Indonesia, 25-29 October 
2010) 
b) Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (Santiago, Chile,  
1-5 November 2010) 
c) FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the Caribbean (Acapulco, 
Mexico, 8-12 November 2010) 
d) FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Asia (Bali, Indonesia, 22-26 November 2010) 
e) Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (Kampala , Uganda, 29 November – 3 December 
2010) 
f) FAO/WHO Coordinating Committee for Africa (Ghana, Accra, 1-4 February 2011) 
g) Codex Committee on Fats and Oils (Pen ang, Malaysia, 21-25 February 2011) 
h) Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis  and Sampling (Budapest, Hungary,  
7-11 March 2011) 
i) Codex Committee on Food Additives (Xiamen, China, 14-18 March 2011) 
In particular, the Committee may wish to note the following:  1. The Codex Committee on Processed Fruits and Vegetables  finalised the revision of the 
standards for processed fruits and vegetables name ly grated desiccated coconut, canned mushrooms 
and canned bamboo shoots. The revision is carried out within the framework of the ongoing work of 
the Committee on the revision of Codex standards fo r processed fruits and vegetables in order to bring 
them up to date in light of developments in science and technology as well as changes in industry and marketing practices. The Committee proceeded with its  work on the revision of the Standard for Table 
Olives and the Sampling Plans for controlling Mi nimum Drained Weight of Canned Fruits and 
Vegetables in Packing Media. The Committee initia ted new work on the Standard for Certain Quick 
Frozen Vegetables; and Proposed Draft Standard for Certain Canned Fruits. 
2. FAO/WHO Coordinating Committees  consider Codex matters of interest to the region, 
promote exchange of information within the region  on Codex, food legislation and food control 
issues. They define the problems and needs of the region concerning food standards and food control, G/TBT/GEN/113 
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  and some of them develop regional standards for pr oducts that may not be traded internationally but 
for which there is significant regional trade. Th e Commission also forwarded some questions on 
general issues to Coordinating Committees, especially  as regards the mid-term review of the Trust 
Fund, the Strategic Plan, and the use of private standards.  
3. FAO and WHO generally convene regional workshops on issues of interest to the region in 
conjunction with the Coordinating Committees,  and with funding from the Trust Fund.  
4. As regards regional standards, the Coordinating Committee for Latin America and the 
Caribbean  finalised the regional standards fo r culantro coyote and for lucuma. 
5.  The Coordinating Committee for Asia  finalised the regional standards for edible sago flour 
and for chilli sauce and continued its work on th e Proposed Draft Standard for Non-Fermented 
Soybean Products.  
6. The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses  finalised the Draft 
Annex to the Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling : General Principles for Establishing Nutrient 
Reference Values of Vitamins and Minerals for the General Population, amende d the List of Methods 
for Dietary Fibre and continued its work on th e General Principles for Establishing Nutrient 
Reference Values for Nutrients Associated with Ri sk of Noncommunicable Diseases for the General 
Population, continued its work on the revision of the Codex General Principl es for the Addition of 
Essential Nutrients to Foods  and the revision of the Guidelines on Formulated Supplementary Foods 
for Older Infants and Young Children  
7. The Codex Committee on Fats and Oils  finalised the update of the  Code of Practice for the 
Transport and Storage of Fats and Oils in Bulk : criteria to assess the ac ceptability of substances as 
previous acceptable cargoes and lists of acceptable pr evious cargoes. It finalised the amendments to 
the Standard for Named Vegetable Oils  to include palm kernel stear in and palm kernel olein and 
agreed to discontinue work on the level of linolenic acid in olive oils. It agreed to undertake new work on fish oils and amendments to the compos ition parameters for rice bran oil in the Standard for 
Named Vegetable Oils . 
8. The Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling  finalised the revision of the 
current Guidelines on Measurement Uncertainty , endorsed a large number of methods especially on 
dietary fibre and on natural mineral waters and agre ed to undertake new work on principles for the use 
of sampling and testing in international food trade. 
II. FORTHCOMING CODEX MEETINGS (UNTIL JUNE 2011) 
a) Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods  (The Hague, Netherlands, 21-25 March 
2011) 
b) Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (Beijing, China, 4-9 April 2011) 
c) Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Produc ts (Tromso, Norway, 11-16 April 2011) 
d) Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vege tables (Mexico City, Mexico, 2-6 May 
2011) 
e) Codex Committee on Food Labelling (Que bec City, Canada, 9-13 May 2011) 
In particular, the TBT Committee may wish to note the following:  
9. The Committee on Fish and Fishery products will consider the Draft Standard for Smoked 
Fish, Smoke-Flavoured Fish and Smoke-Dried Fish and an associated section on smoked fish in the  G/TBT/GEN/113 
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  Code of Practice for Fish and Fishery Products, a Proposed Draft Standard for Quick Frozen Scallop 
Adductor Muscle Meat and a Code of Practice on the Processing of Scallop Meat, the Revision of the 
Procedure for the Inclusion of Additional Species  in Standards for Fish and Fishery Products, a 
Proposed Draft List of Methods for the Determinati on of Biotoxins, a Proposed draft Standard for 
Fresh/Live and Frozen Abalone of the Haliotis species, a Proposed Draft Amendment to the Standard 
for Quick Frozen Fish Sticks in relation to nitrogen  factors; and food additives provisions in standards 
on fish and fishery products. 
10. The Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables  will consider finalization of the 
standards for avocado and tree tomato. The Committ ee will also discuss standards for chilli peppers 
and pomegranate including a proposal for new work on a Codex Standard for Passion Fruit. As a 
general consideration, the Committee will examine matters concerning the uniform presentation of 
Codex standards for fresh fruits and vegetables a nd point of application of these standards in 
international trade vis-à-vis quality toleran ces at export and/or import control stages. 
11. The Codex Committee on Food Labelling  will consider in particular the Proposed Draft 
Revision of the Guidelines on Nutrition Labelling concerning the list of nutrients that are always 
declared on a voluntary or mandatory basis and ot her issues related to the WHO Global Strategy on 
Diet, Physical Activity and Health. It will cons ider the development of a section on organic 
aquaculture and several amendments to the Guidelines for the Production, Processing, Labelling and 
Marketing of Organically Produced Foods and continue its discussions on the Labelling of Foods and 
Food Ingredients Obtained through Certain T echniques of Genetic Modification / Genetic 
Engineering.  
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