[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 18 (Friday, January 28, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4087-4089]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-1612]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food Safety and Inspection Service

[Docket No. 04-045N]


Codex Alimentarius Commission: Thirty-Seventh Session of the 
Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants

AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting, request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, United 
States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug 
Administration (FDA), United States Department of Health and Human 
Services, are sponsoring a public meeting on March 9, 2005, to provide 
information and receive public comments on agenda items that will be 
discussed at the

[[Page 4088]]

Thirty-seventh Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and 
Contaminants (CCFAC), which will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands, 
on April 25-29, 2005. The Under Secretary and FDA recognize the 
importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain 
background information on the agenda items that will be discussed at 
this forthcoming session of the CCFAC.

DATES: The public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 
from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Auditorium (Room 1A-
003), Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, 
College Park, Maryland. Documents related to the 37th Session of the 
CCFAC will be accessible via the World Wide Web at the following 
address: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp.
    FSIS invites interested persons to submit comments on this notice. 
Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
     Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROM's and hand-or 
courier-delivered items: Send to Docket Clerk, U.S. Department of 
Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 300 12th Street, SW., 
Room 102, Cotton Annex, Washington, DC 20250-3700.
    All comments received must include the Agency name and docket 
number 04-045N.
    All comments submitted in response to this notice, will be 
available for public inspection in the FSIS Docket Room at the address 
listed above between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. 
The comments also will be posted on the Agency's Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2005_Notices_Index/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: About the 37th session of the CCFAC: 
U.S. Delegate, Dr. Terry Troxell, Director, Office of the Plant and 
Diary Foods and Beverages, Center for Food Safety and Applied 
Nutrition, FDA, Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building, 5100 Paint Branch 
Parkway (HFS-300), College Park, MD 20740, phone: (301) 436-1700, fax: 
(301) 436-2632, e-mail: [email protected].
    About the public meeting: Ellen Matten, U.S. Codex Office, Food 
Safety and Inspection Service, Room 4861, South Building, 1400 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-3700, phone: (202) 205-
7760, fax: (202) 720-3157. Attendees are requested to pre-register as 
soon as possible by e-mail to (e-mail address: [email protected].)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) was established in 1962 
by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture 
Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Codex is 
the major international standard-setting organization for protecting 
the health and economic interests of consumers and encouraging fair 
international trade in food. Through adoption of food standards, codes 
of practice, and other guidelines developed by its committees, and by 
promoting their adoption and implementation by governments, Codex seeks 
to ensure that the world's food supply is sound, wholesome, free from 
adulteration, and correctly labeled. In the United States, USDA, FDA, 
and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manage and carry out U.S. 
Codex activities.
    The Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) 
establishes or endorses maximum or guideline levels for individual food 
additives, for contaminants (including environmental contaminants) and 
for naturally occurring toxicants in foodstuffs and animal feeds. In 
addition, the Committee prepares priority lists of food additives and 
contaminants for toxicological evaluation by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert 
Committee on Food Additives (JECFA); recommends specifications of 
identity and purity for food additives for adoption by the Commission; 
considers methods of analysis for the determination of food additives 
and contaminants in food; and considers and elaborates standards or 
codes for related subjects such as the labeling of food additives when 
sold as such, and food irradiation. The Committee is chaired by The 
Netherlands.

Issues To Be Discussed at the Public Meeting

    Items on the provisional agenda of the 37th session of CCFAC to be 
discussed during the public meeting:
    1. Matters referred or of interest to the committee arising from 
the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other Codex committees, including 
the endorsement or revision of maximum levels for food additives and 
contaminants in Codex commodity standards.
    2. Summary reports of the 63rd and 64th meetings of the Joint 
Expert Committee for Food Additives (JECFA) and any actions required as 
a result of changes in the acceptable daily intake (ADI) status and 
other toxicological recommendations.
    3. Consideration of the Codex General Standard for Food Additives 
(GSFA) including:
    (a) Progress report of the working group on the working principles 
of the GSFA,
    (b) Report of the electronic working group on the GSFA,
    (c) Draft and proposed draft food additives provisions requiring 
information on their use, and
    (d) Proposed draft food additive provisions at Step 3 and proposals 
for new uses.
    4. Proposals for additions or amendments to the International 
Numbering System for Food Additives, including discussion papers on 
harmonizing the food additive class names used by Codex and JECFA, and 
a proposed definition of food additive carriers.
    5. An updated Inventory of Processing Aids (IPA).
    6. A discussion paper on flavoring agents with risk management 
options for CCFAC to consider.
    7. Terms of reference for a Joint FAO/WHO expert group to conduct a 
comprehensive assessment of the use of active chlorine in food 
processing.
    8. Specifications for the identity and purity of food additives.
    9. Schedule 1 of the Codex General Standard for Contaminants and 
Toxins (GSCT) with proposed draft revisions.
    10. Draft code of practice for the prevention and reduction of 
aflatoxin contamination in tree nuts.
    11. Proposed draft maximum levels for aflatoxin in unprocessed and 
processed almonds, hazelnuts, and pistachios.
    12. Proposed draft sampling plan for aflatoxin contamination in 
almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, and pistachios.
    13. Discussion paper on aflatoxin contamination in Brazil nuts with 
risk management options for CCFAC to consider.
    14. Information on deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination in cereal 
grains.
    15. Information on mycotoxin contamination in sorghum.
    16. Draft maximum levels for lead in fish, including a list of the 
major internationally traded fish species with proposals for lead 
maximum levels.
    17. Proposed draft maximum levels for tin in food.
    18. Draft code of practice for the prevention and reduction of 
inorganic tin contamination in canned foods.
    19. Draft and proposed draft maximum levels for cadmium in rice, 
potatoes, wheat, vegetables, and mollusks.

[[Page 4089]]

    20. Proposed draft code of practice for source directed measures to 
reduce dioxin and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) 
contamination of foods.
    21. A discussion paper and proposed draft maximum levels for 
chloropropanols in food.
    22. Discussion paper on acrylamide in food with risk management 
options for CCFAC to consider.
    23. Discussion paper on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in food 
with risk management options for CCFAC to consider.
    24. Discussion paper on guideline levels for methylmercury in fish 
with risk management options for CCFAC to consider.
    25. Draft revised guideline levels for radionuclides in foods for 
use in international trade.
    26. Priority list of food additives, contaminants and naturally 
occurring toxicants proposed for evaluation by JECFA.
    Each issue listed will be fully described in documents distributed, 
or to be distributed, by The Netherlands' Secretariat to the Meeting. 
Members of the public may access or request copies of these documents 
(see ADDRESSES).

Public Meeting

    At the March 9, 2005, public meeting, the agenda items will be 
described and discussed, and attendees will have the opportunity to 
pose questions and offer comments. Written comments may be offered at 
the meeting or sent to the U.S. Delegate, for the 37th Session of the 
CCFAC, Dr. Terry Troxell (see ADDRESSES). Written comments should state 
that they relate to activities of the 37th Session of the CCFAC.

Additional Public Notification

    Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy 
development is important. Consequently, in an effort to ensure that the 
public and in particular minorities, women, and persons with 
disabilities are aware of this notice, FSIS will announce it on-line 
through the FSIS Web page. The Agency Web page is located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov.
    FSIS also will make copies of this Federal Register publication 
available through the FSIS Constituent Update, which is used to provide 
information regarding FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal 
Register notices, FSIS public meetings, recalls, and other types of 
information that could affect or would be of interest to our 
constituents and shareholders. The update is communicated via Listserv, 
a free e-mail subscription service consisting of industry, trade, and 
farm groups, allied health professionals, scientific professionals, and 
other individuals that have requested to be included. The update also 
is available on the FSIS Web page. Through Listserv and the Web page, 
FSIS is able to provide information to a much broader, more diverse 
audience.

    Done in Washington, DC on January 24, 2005.
F. Edward Scarbrough,
U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius.
[FR Doc. 05-1612 Filed 1-27-05; 8:45 am]
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