| Report of the 27th session of the
Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary
Uses |
21st to 25th November 2005
Location: Bruckenforum, Bonn, Germany
Official report of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
Attended by: Maryse Lehners Arendt
ILCA was represented by Maryse Lehners on short-notice
decision as Denise Both the current ILCA liaison for Codex was
not available for family reason.
Activities:
The Twenty-seventh Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition
and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) was held from 21
to 25 November 2005 in the Bruckenforum, Bonn, courtesy of the
Government of Federal Republic of Germany. The Session was
attended by 315 delegates, observers and advisors representing
68 member countries and 33 international organizations.
My interventions in the discussion to the different agenda
points are quoted as they will appear in the final report
which is attached to get a better understanding of the
context.
Development of a set of Nutrient Reference Values NRVs
The Observer from ILCA expressed concern with proposal for
development of a set of NRVs for infants from 4-6 months to 1
year, as this age range did not reflect the age of
introduction of complementary foods into the diet, which is 6
months. (As indicated in the scope of the Draft Standard for
Cereal-Based Foods)
Draft revised standard for processed Cereal-Based Foods for
infants and young children (Agenda Item 5)
Food hygiene
On the proposition of ILCA the Committee agreed to include a
specific reference to the Code of Hygienic Practice for Foods
for Infants and Children, in addition to the basic food
hygiene texts in order to provide additional guidance to
governments related to Enterobacter.
Food Labelling + Health claims
The Delegation of Botswana, supported by several delegations
and observers( ILCA is not named but supported this view),
expressed the view that nutrition claims should not be allowed
in foods for infants and children, as they would mislead
consumers, reduce the consumption of home made complementary
foods and were inconsistent both with WHA Resolutions and with
the Guidelines on Use of Nutrition and Health Claims, whereby
nutrition claims should be consistent with national nutrition
policy and support that policy. These delegations pointed out
that their national regulations did not allow nutrition claims
and expressed their concern with the statement that "nutrition
claims shall be permitted", that could be understood as an
obligation for governments to allow such claims.
After an extensive discussion, the Committee agreed that
nutrition claims "may be permitted under national legislation
for the foods that are the subject of the standard provided
they have been demonstrated in rigorous studies with adequate
scientific standards". The Delegations of Botswana, India,
Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania expressed their reservations
of this decision.
Different views were expressed regarding the proposal of the
Working group to add clarification in Section 3.1.1 regarding
details of demonstration of physiological, biochemical and
functional outcomes in formula fed infants in comparison to
populations of healthy exclusively breast-fed infants, having
the breastfed child as the norm. Some delegations were of the
opinion that the proposed wording did not add clarity to this
Section and suggested to delete it while some other
delegations and observers were of the view that this addition
should be maintained. After some discussion the Committee
agreed to delete the proposed wording in order to keep this
section short and more focused. ILCA didn't agree.
To the concerns expressed by Observers form IBFAN, ILCA and
ENCA regarding safety of soy an its isolates used for the
preparation of infant formula and the request to give a full
consideration to this matter, the Observer of ESPGHAN
clarified that the uses of soy based formulae were covered by
the current standards as they were used in some cases for
treatment of children who could not tolerate cow's milk.
Draft revised standard for infant formula and formulas for
special medical purposes intended for infants: Section B:
Formulas For Special Medical Purposes Intended For Infants
(Agenda Item 6b)
The Committee agreed to insert an amended Section 1.4 as
proposed by the Delegation of the EC in CRD 3 and supported by
several delegations. The Delegations of Tanzania, South
Africa, Botswana, India and the Observers from ILCA and IBFAN,
while supporting the inclusion of Section 1.4, strongly
expressed their reservations to the amended text (weakened
section referring to the International Code).
It was agreed to delete the square brackets from Section 9.6.4
concerning breastfeeding contraindications. Some observers
raised their concern with this decision and proposed to amend
the section by inserting the text from Section A9.6.4. The
Committee agreed to retain the current text. ILCA proposed to
include "totally" before contraindicated to differentiate
between metabolic disorders where partial Breastfeeding is
possible and permitted. This was rejected (or not adopted) The
Chairperson reiterated that this section together with all
other sections would be open for further comments at Step 6 if
adopted at Step 5 by the Commission.
Needs/Recommendations/Strategic Planning:
The next Codex Committee on Nutrition will be held from 30 of
October to the 3rd of November, with a working group meeting
on 28 of October, this time in Chiangmai in Thailand. We need
to be well prepared, which means send timely before 31 of
March (cereals) or 1st of May (IF) written comments to the
draft standards to the codex secretariat. This will give oral
interventions in the discussion more weight and would allow
preparing an ILCA position together with the board.
Having IBCLC's in the attendance is highly important not only
for our visibility but because of our competence too, because
the main representatives are government people or industry
with no real specialists in lactation and infant feeding.
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