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Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses
Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (Host Government - Germany)
The Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) studies nutritional issues referred by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. It also develops guidelines, general principles and standards for food including food with special dietary uses.Existing Codex Standards
Standards relating to nutrition and foods for special dietary uses* that have been endorsed and adopted into the international food code:- Canned Baby Foods
- Formula Foods for Use in Weight Control Diets
- Formula Foods for Use in Very Low Energy Diets for Weight Reduction
- Formulated Supplementary Foods for Older Infants and Young Children
- General Principles for the Addition of Essential Nutrients to Foods
- Guidelines on Vitamin and Mineral Food Supplements
- Infant Formula
- Labelling of and Claims for Prepackaged Foods for Special Dietary Use
- Labelling of and Claims for Foods for Special Medical Purposes
- Nutrition Labelling
- Processed Cereal-Based Foods for Infants and Children
- Use of Nutrition Claims.
* 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 31st Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
The 31st Session of the Codex Alimentaruis Commission adopted, at Step 8, the draft Revised Standard for Foods for Special Dietary Use for Persons Intolerant to Gluten and the Draft Advisory Lists of Nutrient Compounds for Use in Foods for Special Dietary Uses Intended for Infants and Young Children. The Commission also adopted, at Step 5, the Establishment and Application of Risk Analysis Principles by the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses.
Last Meeting
The 29th Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) was held in Bad Neuenahr, Germany, on 12–16 November 2007. At this meeting the Committee:
- agreed to forward to the Commission the Draft Revised Codex Standard for Foods for Special Dietary Use for Persons Intolerant to Gluten for final adoption at Step 8
- agreed to forward to the Commission the Draft Advisory List of Nutrient Compounds for Use in Foods for Special Dietary Uses Intended for Infants and Young Children for final adoption at Step 8, and
- agreed to forward to the Commission the Establishment and Application of Risk Analysis Principles by the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses for adoption at Step 5.
The Committee also:
- agreed to return the draft Table of Conditions for Nutrient Content (Part B containing provisions on dietary fibre) to Step 6 and to ask comments in the Circular Letter as to how the FAO/WHO scientific update applied to the definition proposed for dietary fibre and its applicability for conditions for claims, and
- agreed to cease the consideration of the Discussion Paper on the Production and Processing Standards Regarding the Nutritional Quality and Safety of Foods as these matters were already covered by the General Principles for the Addition of Essential Nutrients to Foods and the Proposed Draft Risk Analysis Principles Applied by the Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses being elaborated by the Committee.
Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods Derived from Biotechnology (CTFBT)
Following the established Procedures between General Committees and Commodity Committees, the Committee noted that the proposed Annex on Food safety assessment of foods derived from recombinant-DNA plants modified for nutritional or health benefits was considerably debated by the Intergovernmental Task Force on Foods derived from Biotechnology and after some discussion agreed to endorse the text as proposed by the Task Force.
Matters Referred to Other Committees
Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA)
The Committee noted the clarification of the Secretariat of JECFA regarding the applicability of ADI concept for infants below 12 weeks of age as presented in CRD 12 and agreed that there was no need to consider the food additives provisions at the Committee before JECFA and CCFA conclude their work on remaining food additive issues posed by the 28th Session of the Committee.
Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS)
Following the established Procedures between Commodity Committees and General Committees, the CCNFSDU refers some responses to the questions on several methods in the standard for Infant Formula and Formulas for Special Medical Purposes Intended for Infants.
Codex Committee on Food Labelling (CCFL)
Following the established Procedures between Commodity Committees and General Committees, the CCNFSDU refers the Section of Food Labelling of the Draft Revised Codex Standard for Foods for Special Dietary Use for Persons Intolerant to Gluten for endorsement by the CCFL.
New Work
The Committee agreed to ask, through the 61st Session of the Executive Committee, the 31st Session of the Commission to approve new work on the Revision of Nutrient Reference Values for Labelling Purposes.
Download the report from this meeting
Next Meeting
The 30th Session of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses will be held in South Africa, from 3-7 November 2008, subject to confirmation by the host government and the Codex Secretariat.