International

44 COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW Vol. 28, No. 2 International Arrangements were made for an orderly transition of w ork on fisheries standards CODEX AIlMENT ARlUS COMMISSION from the FAO Fisheries Division (previous assigned such r esponsibility by the Codex THIRD SESSION MEETS IN ROME, Commission) t o the new Codex Fisheries OCTOBER 19-29, 1965: Committee. As of January 1, 1966, FAOwas The Third Session of the Codex Alimen to transfer the work, and all files relating to tarius (Food Stan dards) Commission met in the fish s tandards dra fts, to the Committee. Rome, October 19-29, 1965. The Commis sion is sponsored by the Food and Agriculture In an informal discussion between the sev Organization (FAO) and the World Health Or eral fisheries r epresentatives in attendance ganization (WHO). The joint FAO/WHO pro it was agreed that the first meeting of the gram on food standards has as its purpose: Codex Fisheries Committee might be timed (1) simplifying and integrating food standards to take advantage of the p res ence in Europe work now carried on by many international of many country r epr esentatives for the Sec organizations; (2) providing an effective me ond International Congres s of Food Science chanism for obtaining Government acceptance and Technology a t Warsaw J Poland, August of those standards; and (3) their publication 22-27, 1966. in the Codex Alimentarius. On the agenda a t the first meeting of the Important actions at the Third Session of the Codex Fisheries Committe e will be th e es Commission were (1) the establishment of a tablishment of rules of p roc edure, patterned Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Prod after the guidelines a lrea dy in use by other u cts, and (2) the adoption of a report on IIGen Codex Committees. It is expected that pri- eral Principles of the Codex Alimentarius. II 0rities for particular fishery products Codex Standards can be a greed to, and also assign Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery ments of each pri ority standard to 2 or 3 Products: The Commission agreed to estab countries indi cating i nterest in serving as a lish a Codex Committee on Fis h a n d Fishery working group. Those w orking groups woul Products. Norway volunteered to be the host report back to the full Committee when a country and to provide the Chairman for the new Codex Standard had been sufficiently devel Committee and was confirmed in that role. oped to warrant review by that Committee. T h e following terms of reference for the General Principle s of the Codex Alimen Codex Fisheries Committee were agreed upon: tarius: Oth e r action bit~Commission at liThe Codex Committee on F ish and Fishery the T hird Session i n cluded the adoption of a Products should elaborate worl dwide stand report by the Codex C ommittee on General ards for all fresh, frozen, and otherwise Principles which met in Paris, October 4-8, processed fish, mollusks, and crustaceans . II 1965. T h e report a s adopted by the Commis sion included the f ollowing provisions: The relation of the Fisheries Committee with other Codex Committees was stated as GENERAL PRINCIPLES follows: liThe Fisheries Committee will have OF THE CODEX A LIMENTARIUS liaison with the Frozen Foods Committee, a s "Purpose of the Codex Alimenta rius : The Codex Ai it will have with those for Food Hygiene, Ad imentarius is a collection of internationally adopted ditives, Labeling, and Sampling, and Analyti food standards presented in a uniform manner. These food standards aim at p r otecting c onsum ers I health and cal Methods --but onlyas to Codes of Practi ce- ensuring fair practices in the f ood trade. Their publi not as to the elaboration of the Codex Standards. II c ation is intended to gui de and p r omote the elabo r a tion F ebruary 1966 COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 45 International (Contd.) : NUTRITION SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS m d ~ stablish me nt of definitions and requirements for oods, to assist in their harmonization, and in so doing OF NUTRITION TO MEET IN HAMBURG: o facilitate international trade. The VIIth International Congress of Nutri tion will meet in Hamburg, Germany, August "Scope of the Codex Alimentarius: The Codex Ali 3-10, 1966. A scientific pro nentarius is to include standards for all the principal gram covering many as - ~:"'::",LI.-.I' 'oods , whether processed, semiprocessed, or raw, for listr ibution to the consumer. Materials for further pects of nutrition has )rocessing into foods should be included to the extent been planned. Of partic pecessary to achieve the purposes of the Codex Alimen ular interest to the fish ,a rius as defined. The Codex Alimentarius is to in ing industry will be dis d ude provisions in respect of food hygiene, food addi bves, pesticide residues, contaminants, labeling and cussions and reports on ~resentation , methods of analysis, and sampling. (1) food habits, food patterns, and food taboos; (2) influence of imported "Nature of Codex Standards: Codex Standards con foods on the nutritional status of developing t a in requirements for food aimed at ensuring for the consumer a sound, wholesome food product free from countries; (3) methods of protein evaluation; adulteration, correctly labeled and presented. In par (4) irradiation of foodstuffs; and (5) food from ticular, a Codex Standard for a given food product lays the sea as related to world nutrition in the down the special requirements for that product, it be future. A wide variety of other topics of gen ing under stood..that the general provisions contained in the Codex Alimentarius shall apply except to the extent eral interest will also be presented. Official otherwise expressly provided for in' a specific standard. languages for the Congress will be German, English, and French. "A Codex Standard should, therefore, for any food or foods: (1) incorporate by reference the applicable hy giene, labeling, methods of analysis, and other general Additional information may be obtained provisions adopted by the Commission; and (2) specify from the VIIth International Congress of Nu in whole or in part the following criteria, as appropriate: trition' Secretariat General, Martinistr. 52, (a ) Product designation, definition, and com 2000 Hamburg 20, West Germany. position--These should describe and define the food (including its scientific name when COD necessary) and cover compositional require ments which may include quality criteria. FRANCE HOLDS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COD INDUSTRY: (b ) Hygiene requirements - -These should in clude such factors as specific sanitary and A "First International Congress of the other protective measures and safeguards to Cod Industry: Tradition and Future" was assure a sound, wholesome, and marketable held in Fecamp, France, January 27-29, 1966, product. under the sponsorship of the Foundation Fran (c) Weight and measure requirements, such caise d'Etudes Nordiques. The agenda for as fill of container, weight, measure, or the meeting called for a discussion of cod count of units based on an appropriate meth- fishing and marketing by European countries, 0d or criterium. particularly as concerns the North Atlantic (d) Labeling requirements - -These should in fishery. Speakers for the meeting were in clude specific requirements for labeling and vited from Norway, Denmark, France, West presentation. Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United King dom, and the Soviet Union. The cod fisher (e) Sampling, testing, and analytical meth ods - -These should cover specific sampling, ies in each of those countries were reviewed. testing, and analytical procedures. The meeting also touched on such subjects as the construction of modern trawlers, inter "Acceptance of Codex Standards: A Codex Standard national conventions affecting cod fishing, so defined may be accepted by a country--in respect of trade and distribution of the food within its territory- and the market for cod in developing coun in its entirety, or accepted with a declaration of more tries. Reports and accounts of the discus stringent requirements, or accepted as a target which sions were published by the Fondation Fran will be put into effect after a stated number of years. cais e d 'Etudes N ordiques. ~cceptance in its entirety or target acceptance would tmply an undertaking by the importing country not to EUROPEAN TRADE FAIRS h.inder within its territorial jurisdiction the distribu hon of food which conforms to the standard by any legal provisions relating to the health of the consumer or to AMERICAN FISHERY other food standard matters." PRODUCTS PROMOTED: Note: See Commercial Fisheries Review, Sept. 1965 p. 55, Dec. 1964 p. 75. Processed fishery products from the U nited States were vigorously promoted at two 46 COMMERCIAL F ISHERIES REVIEW Vol. 28, No. 2 International (Contd.): liminated by a single Cl~t on December 31, 1966, with the exception that Finland (having important trade fairs in Europ e during Jan becom e a ssociate d with EFTA 1 year after uary 1966, the U. S. Bureau of Commercia l the Stoc kholm Convention came into force) Fisheries announced. The products, m a ny of will reac h z ero at the end of 1967 through them new to European markets, wer e dis suc cessive cuts of 10 percent at the end of played at the International Hotel and Cat e r in g 1966 a nd 1 967 . Show in London January 18 - 27, and a t t he U. S. Food and Agricultural Exhibit in Milan, T hose tariff reductions will accomplish Italy, January 19-25. t he establishme nt of an industrial free trad area among the E F TA countries three years Both fairs were expected tr ;;,.ttract many earlier t han originally contemplated by the 9f the leading trade people in Europe, includ signatori es of the Stockholm Convention.

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