The Codex Alimentarius Commission, a United Nations-supported organization focusing on global food standards, convened in Rome last week to deliberate on recommendations from its committees and task forces. Of special interest to IDFA members, the commission decided to discontinue work on a processed cheese standard. In addition, the commission declined to vote on maximum residue limits (MRLs) for recombinant bovine somatotropin, or rbST, an issue that has been held at Step 8, the final step before adoption, since 1999.
The 35th Session of the commission drew 623 delegates from 147 countries to the Food and Agriculture Organization's headquarters in Rome, July 2-7. Clay Hough, IDFA senior group vice president, attended the meeting as a member of the United States delegation and worked directly with the U.S. negotiators and Codex Secretariat to gain this favorable decision to discontinue work on processed cheese standards.
Years in the Making
Two years ago, the commission agreed to eliminate the decades-old processed cheese standards, a move IDFA and members supported. But the commission also approved a recommendation to continue work on a new standard to replace the old ones. IDFA strongly endorsed stopping all work on developing a new Codex processed cheese standard, which would have allowed lower-quality imitation cheese to be covered by the same international standard as high-quality American processed cheese.
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