Food Hygiene

Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (Host Government-United States of America)

The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) drafts basic provisions on food hygiene for all foods. The term 'hygiene' also includes microbiological specifications for food and associated methodology.

Existing Codex Standards

Standards relating to food hygiene* that have been endorsed and adopted into the international food code include standards on:

General Principles of Food Hygiene

* This is an indicative list only. For a full list of standards approved by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, please consult its Official List of Standards.

Outcomes from the 35th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission

The 35th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission adopted the proposed standards and related texts forwarded by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene making minor amendments to the Guidelines on the Application of General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Viruses in Food and the Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Microbiological Risk Assessment (CAC/GL 30-1999).

The Commission also approved proposals for new work on a Code of Hygienic Practice for Spices and Dried Aromatic Plants (CAC/RCP 42- 1995) and an Annex on berries to the Code of Hygienic Practice for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CAC/RCP 53- 2003)

Last Meeting

The 43^rd Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene was held in Miami, USA from 5-9 December 2011.

At this meeting the Committee:

agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Guidelines on the Application of General Principles of Food Hygiene to the Control of Viruses in Food for adoption at Step 5/8;
agreed to forward the Proposed Draft Annex to the Code of Hygienic Practice for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CAC/RCP 53-2003) for adoption at Step 5/8
agreed to forward the Proposed Amendment to the Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Microbiological Risk Assessment (CAC/GL 30-1999) and the Revision to the Risk Analysis Principles and Procedures Applied by the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene for adoption at the 35th Session of the Commission

The Committee agreed to propose to the 35^th Commission to approve new work on:

Revision of the Code of Hygienic Practice for Spices and Dried Aromatic Plants (CAC/RCP 42- 1995)
Annex on berries to the Code of Hygienic Practice for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (CAC/RCP 53- 2003)

Matters of Interest to the Commission

The Committee:

agreed to return the Proposed Draft Revision of the Principles for the Establishment and Application of Microbiological Criteria for Foods and the Proposed Draft Guidelines for Control of Specific Zoonotic Parasites in Meat: Trichinella spiralis and Cysticercus bovis to Step 2 for redrafting, circulation for comments at Step 3 and consideration at its next session agreed to request comments and proposals on the hygiene provisions in the draft Guidelines for Street-vended Foods (Near East) and further consideration at its next Session with the view to provide guidance to the CCNEA.

Request to FAO/WHO

The Committee agreed to request FAO/WHO to:

develop risk-based examples for Trichinella spp. and Cysticercus bovis to illustrate the level of consumer protection likely to be achieved with different post-harvest risk management options
peer review the risk profiles contained in CX/11/43/6 in the context of the FAO/WHO Expert Consultation and to make these risk profiles available in the repository of risk profiles on the FAO and WHO websites

Matters of Interest to Other Committees

Committee on Fish and Fishery Products

The Committee agreed to recommend to CCFFP to remove the criterion for Salmonella (section I-6.5) from the Standard for Live and Raw Bivalve Molluscs (CODEX STAN 292-2008) and to include in the Code of Practice for Fish and Fishery Products (CAC/RCP 52-2003), Section 7.2.2.2, the following: “When appropriate, taking into account the epidemiological situation as indicated by the results of environmental monitoring and/or other surveillance, the competent authority may decide to implement a criterion for Salmonella.”

The Committee endorsed the hygiene provisions in the Draft Standard for Smoked Fish, Smoke- Flavoured Fish and Smoke-Dried Fish as amended by CCFFP and noted that part of the rationale provided by CCFFP for the retention of the second paragraph of 6.5 Clostridium botulinum that no outbreaks had been reported from the consumption of uneviscerated fish was not accurate, since outbreaks had been reported from these products.

Committee on General Principles

The 43^rd Session of the Committee revised the Principles and Guidelines for the Conduct of Microbiological Risk Assessment (CAC/GL 30-1999) to simplify it in line with Activity 2.2 of the Strategic Plan (2008 – 2013) and taking into account the recommendations in CL 2010/1-GP for adoption by the 35th Session of the Commission.

Download the report from this meeting.

Next Meeting

The 44^th Session of CCFH is scheduled to be held in New Orleans, USA from 12-16 November 2012.

Download the agenda papers for this meeting.