International

Photographs from Codex meeting Sept. 7-10, 2004

IACFO (International Association of Consumer Food Organization) participated at the 14th FAO/WHO Codex Coordinating Committee for Asia Sept. 7 - 10, 2004 in South Korea.

Day 2

Day 2 of the proceedings of CC Asia in Korea	Martin writing reports for the JOF website so that consumers all over the World can follow the proceedings
Codex meeting play an important role in aiding communication between food safety experts from different countries, as well as observers from industry and consumer organizations	Staff from Japan Offspring Fund, participating for IACFO, together with Prof. Sri Ram Khanna (second from right) Prof. Khanna is Managing Trustee for Consumer Voice, a well-known Indian consumer organization. He was able to join the CC Asia meeting as part of the Indian delegation.
The Korean delegation in action	This bottle of ginseng extract was handed out during a coffee break, as the Korean government fought hard for the new Ginseng standard

Report from Codex meeting Sept. 7-10, 2004

IACFO (International Association of Consumer Food Organization) participated at the 14th Codex Coordinating Committee meting for Asia, held in Jeju, South Korea on Sept. 7-10, 2004. Our delegation consisted of seven consumer experts. Totally, 79 delegates from 17 Asian countries were present, together with 21 observers. The meeting was focusing on issues that are of interest to consumers in Asia, such as standards for certain locally produced foods.

Day 2

1) Fermented Soybean Paste (similar to Japanese miso)

The discussion about fermented soybean paste was lead by Korea, but proceeded rather slowly as there was confusion about similar products in different Asian countries. For example, the Japanese delegation would like to allow amino acids, as well as many flavours. IACFO is against this, as the Codex standard should be as strict as possible, and not include ingredients that are not traditionally used. We will continue to monitor this discussion.

China pointed out that consumption of soy bean products is increasing rapidly: "It has been widely recognized that soybean and its products are healthy food resources which are abundant in nutritients..."

The discussions will countinue by E-mail for further elaboration at the next CC Asia meeting.

2) Korean Gochujang paste standard

For the new standard regarding Gochujang, a Korean red-pepper paste, Japan and Korea led the debate. It was agreed that chili products should not be included. There was a clarification about the origin of the gochujang, and Korea explained that the base usually is rice or glutinous rice. This is processed in slightly different ways in Korea and Japan. Bangladesh was worried that the product may contain alcohol, and would like to see better labelling.

3) Consumer Participation

For Agenda Item 7 (Consumer Participation) the Chairperson first let the consumer organizations speak on their activities. We explained which committees we have attended, and pointed out that IACFO has been actively involved in Codex since 1999. To promote consumer participation, IACFO has made efforts to distribute Codex information to consumers, such as internet broad casting and daily reports during codex committees (www.tabemono.info). IACFO supported the use of measurable objectives checklist on circular letter CL2004/10 ASIA (CX/ASIA 04/7) to promote consumer participation.

The Japanese government said that Japan has not set up a National Codex Committe, but a consultative meeting on Codex is held by Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture. Consumers are able to submit their comments by taking advantage of a public comments system. The ministries are required to ask for public comments for one month when developing a regulation. Japan also explained that there has been drastic changes in the Japanese food legislation because of a number of food scandals that have shaken consumer confidence.

4) Next CC Asia meeting

There was a very long discussion about who should be the host for the next two years. India insisted on taking over the responsibility, but many delegates felt Korea should contiunue (because they did such a good job!). Finally, after some behind-the-scenes interventions, India could agree to let Korea continue, especially as there had been no consensus about the other proposals. Thus it was agreed that the next CC Asia meeting will take place in Korea in September 2006.

(Reported by M. Frid)