[Gen-Streitfall] UN Codex Alimentarius Richtlinien für gentechnisch veränderte Lebensmittel

[Wiebke Herding]

Hallo,

die Codex Alimentarius-Kommission hat vor einigen Tagen Richtlinien
für die Durchführung von Risikoanalysen für GMOs beschlossen. Ohne den
Text genauer analysiert zu haben, scheint das ein Standard, der den
USA nicht gefallen kann, da diese auf solche Risikoanalysen
verzichten. Spannend dabei: Die Codex-Standards werden vom
SPS-Abkommen der WTO als Grundlage zur Harmonisierung anerkannt.

Groetjes, Wiebke

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Link zum neuen Standard:
ftp://ftp.fao.org/codex/standard/en/CodexTextsBiotechFoods.pdf


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Pressemitteilung der FAO:
Codex Alimentarius Commission adopts more than 50 new food standards
http://www.fao.org/english/newsroom/news/2003/20363-en.html

New guidelines on genetically modified and irradiated food

9 July 2003, Rome -- The Codex Alimentarius Commission has adopted a
landmark agreement on how to assess the risks to consumers from foods
derived from biotechnology, including genetically modified foods, FAO
and the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.

Altogether, the Commission adopted more than 50 new food safety and
quality standards, some of which are revisions of old standards.

The Commission adopted ground-breaking guidelines for assessing the
food safety risks posed by foods derived from biotechnology.

Food safety and genetically modified food

These guidelines lay out broad general principles intended to make the
analysis and management of risks related to foods derived from
biotechnology uniform across Codex's 169 member countries. The
guidelines concern food safety and not environmental risks.

Provisions of the guidelines include pre-market safety evaluations and
product tracing for recall purposes and post-market monitoring. The
guidelines cover the scientific assessment of DNA-modified plants,
such as maize, soya or potatoes, and foods and beverages derived from
DNA-modified micro-organisms, including cheese, yoghurt and beer.

They include provisions for assessing the product's allergenicity,
determining if the product may provoke unexpected allergies in
consumers.

"These guidelines are a very important step towards understanding the
risks associated with foods derived from biotechnology," said Alan
Randell, Secretary of the Codex Commission.

"Now, any country, regulatory body or other organization or individual
will be able to compare the risk assessments of a given food derived
from biotechnology with the assessments done by other countries. As
long as the science is sound, each country wishing to use or introduce
a given food derived from biotechnology will not have to redo the
analysis, but can move directly to deciding how to manage the
marketing of that food. Consumers can be assured that foods assessed
by these methods are fit to eat," he said.

Irradiated food

The Commission also adopted a new standard for irradiated foods that
accepts higher levels of radiation on food products. Food is
irradiated to make it safe for longer periods of time. The process,
which uses gamma ray irradiation, kills bacteria, increasing the food
products' shelf life.

The Commission determined that allowing higher levels of irradiation
would eliminate bacterial spores and the radiation resistant
pathogenic bacteria Clostridium botulinum. The process also reduces
the need to use more toxic chemical methods of combating bacteria,
some of which can be harmful to the environment.

"This is a really important breakthrough," Randell said. "For the
consumer it means a potential for higher levels of food safety because
of the protection offered by food irradiation. For example, it can be
applied to spices which can carry bacteria resistant to other
treatments. Irradiated foods are proven safe and do not contain any
radioactive traces."

Responding to consumer concerns about meat, the Commission adopted
standards that will improve the safety of meat by establishing
principles of meat hygiene. A Code of Practice on good animal feeding
calls for stricter and more systematic controls over sources of
contamination.

Cocoa in chocolate

Codex adopted new quality standards for many food items. For example,
consumers will soon note the amount of cocoa in chocolate and
chocolate products will determine when the term "chocolate" can be
used. The new standard sets a minimum 35 per cent of cocoa solids in
products marketed as "chocolate" and a minimum 20 per cent in
"chocolate type" products, such as "chocolate flakes". The new
standard requires the minimum cocoa content to be clearly marked on
the packaging of all chocolate flavoured products.

"The Commission made some very important decisions for food safety.
The most important of these was to extend food safety systems to small
and medium-sized enterprises, especially in developing countries. This
will help these small businesses produce safe food for consumers and
improve their prospects for trade," said Alan Randell.

The Commission examined its own structures and procedures to speed up
its work and make it more open to developing countries and
international non- governmental organizations. Additionally WHO and
FAO requested Codex to better prioritize its requests for scientific
advice, which is provided by FAO/WHO expert bodies. FAO and WHO will
strengthen their efforts in providing the science as the basis for
Codex standards in a timely manner.

FAO and WHO further called on developed countries to contribute to the
Codex Trust Fund to help increase participation by developing
countries in the standard- setting process.

The commission elected Stuart Slorach of Sweden as its new
Chairperson.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission is the highest international body on
food standards. The Commission is a subsidiary body of FAO and WHO.
Codex Alimentarius means "food code" and is the compilation of all the
Standards, Codes of Practice, Guidelines and Recommendations of the
Codex Alimentarius Commission.

Codex has 169 member countries. The 26th session was attended by
delegates from 127 of the member countries, the most ever to attend a
Codex session.