Public Meeting to Address Codex Committee on Food Hygiene

The USDA Office of Food Safety and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ FDA announced a public meeting to provide information and receive comments on agenda items and draft U.S. positions that will be discussed at the 41st Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH), to be held in San Diego Nov. 16-20.

The public meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 28 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., in Room 1A-003, FDA, Harvey Wiley Federal Building, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway, College Park, Md. Items that will be discussed include: Draft Annex for Fresh Leafy Vegetables to the Code of Hygienic Practice for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, Draft Guidelines for the Control of Campylobacter and Salmonella in Chicken Meat, Draft Code of Hygienic Practice for Control of Viruses in Food and Draft Codes of Practice for Vibrio in Seafood. A complete agenda and documents relating to the 41st Session of CCFH will be available on the Codex Alimentarius Web site at http://www.codexalimentarius.net/current.asp

CCFH was established to draft basic provisions on food hygiene applicable to all food. The Committee is hosted by the United States.

Codex was created in 1963 by two United Nations organizations: the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. Codex develops food standards, guidelines and codes of practice in order to protect the health of consumers, ensure fair food trade practices and promote coordination of food standards undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

For further information concerning the 41st Session of the CCFH, contact Barbara McNiff by phone at 202-690-4719 or by e-mail at [email protected]. Individuals are invited to submit their comments electronically to the following e-mail address: [email protected].

For further information about the public meeting, contact Jasmine Matthews, program analyst, U.S. Codex Office, by phone at 202-690-1124 or by e-mail at [email protected]. For attendees who plan to drive to the meeting, it is recommended that they contact Jasmine Matthews and provide their name, vehicle make, model, color and license plate number, by Oct. 23 in order to expedite entry to the parking lot.