|
Monday, April 21, 2003
Fish exports to continue
THE Philippines has been saved from buying expensive equipment that would analyze the lead content in fish, as the proposal to set the maximum level for lead content in fish has been rejected by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC).
The rejection, which also lifts the pall on Philippine marine product exports, occurred during CCFAC’s 35th Session last March 15-19 in Arusha, Tanzania.
According to National Agricultural and Fishery Council sub-committee on Codex vice chairman Pete Borja, the Philippine delegation headed by NAFC Codex sub-committee chairperson Alicia Lustre successfully blocked the European Union’s proposal to set the maximum level for lead content in fish at 0.2 parts per million (ppm).
“The proposal went back to Step Six of the Codex rules, which means that it will be the subject of another committee hearing where new facts or evidence will be presented,” he said.
The CCFAC is one of the committees of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the working group created by the Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization to develop food standards and guidelines.
Rejected
Borja said Philippine tuna and other marine exports would have been rejected in the world market had the proposal been approved because Philippine marine products have an average lead content of 0.4 ppm to 0.9 ppm.
The Philippines cited two main reasons for its opposition: the presence of lead in fish does not pose a significant risk to public health nor does it present a known/expected problem in trade; and there is no internationally validated method for lead analysis in fish at the level of 0.2 ppm, according to a document furnished Sun.Star.
Codex Stan 193 states that maximum levels (MLs) will be set only for those contaminants that present both a significant risk to public health and a known or expected problem in trade. It is also a Codex principle that MLs should not be lower than a level that can be analyzed using methods that can be readily applied in normal product control laboratories.
Until this year, Borja said, lead content in fish was not an issue.
Were it not for the opposition initiated by the NAFC and the Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines, he said the proposed maximum lead content in fish would have been approved by the CCFAC. JBN
(April 21, 2003 issue)
Want Sun.Star news on your mobile phone? Click here.
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
[ return
to top ]
[ home
]
|
LOCAL NEWS
BUSINESS
OPINION
SPORTS
LIFESTYLE
FEATURE
SUPERBALITA
WEEKEND
|
