[Federal Register: February 2, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 21)]
[Notices]
[Page 5413-5414]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02fe05-25]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food Safety and Inspection Service
[Docket No. 04-050N]
Codex Alimentarius Commission: Twenty-sixth Session of the Codex
Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling
AGENCY: Food Safety and Inspection Service, USDA.
ACTION: Notice of public meeting and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA), United States Department of Health and Human
Services, are sponsoring a public meeting on March 15, 2005, to provide
information and receive public comments on agenda items that will be
discussed at the Twenty-sixth Session of the Codex Committee on Methods
of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission
(Codex). The 26th Session of the CCMAS will be held in Budapest,
Hungary, April 4-8, 2005. The Under Secretary and FDA recognize the
importance of providing interested parties the opportunity to obtain
background information on the agenda items that will be discussed at
this forthcoming session of the CCMAS.
DATES: The public meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15, 2005 from
10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
ADDRESSES: The public meeting will be held in the Conference Room 1A
002, Harvey W. Wiley Federal Building, 5100 Paint Branch Parkway,
College Park, MD. Documents related to the 26th Session of CCMAS will
be accessible via the World Wide Web at the following address: http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.asp
.
FSIS invites interested persons to submit comments on this notice.
Comments may be submitted by any of the following methods:
Mail, including floppy disks or CD-ROMs, and hand-or
courier-delivered items: Send to the FSIS Docket Clerk, U.S. Department
of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, 300 12th Street,
SW., Room 102, Cotton Annex, Washington DC 20730. All Comments received
must include the Agency name and docket number 04-050N.
All comments submitted in response to this notice, will be
available for public inspection in the FSIS Docket Room at the address
listed above between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.
The comments also will be posted on the Agency's Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2005_Notices_Index/
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE 26TH SESSION OF THE CCMAS CONTACT:
U.S. Delegate, Dr. Gregory Diachenko, Director, Division of Chemistry
Research and Environmental Review, Center for Food Safety and Applied
Nutrition, FDA, Harvey Wiley Federal Building, 5100 Paint Branch
Parkway, College Park, Maryland 20740. Phone (301) 436-1898; Fax (301)
436-2364, E-mail: Gregory.diachenko@fda.hhs.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE PUBLIC MEETING CONTACT: Syed Amjad
Ali, International Issues Analyst, U. S. Codex Office, FSIS, Room 4861,
South Agriculture Building, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington,
DC 20250-3700. Phone (202) 205-7760; Fax (202) 720-3157. Persons
requiring a sign language interpreter or other special accommodations
should notify Dr. Gregory Diachenko, Director, Division of Chemistry
Research and Environmental Review, FDA, at telephone (301) 436-1898;
Fax (301) 436-2364.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Codex Alimentarius Commission (Codex) was established in 1962
by two United Nations organizations, the Food and Agriculture
Organization and the World Health Organization. Codex is the major
international standard-setting organization for protecting the health
and economic interests of consumers and encouraging fair international
trade in food. Through adoption of food standards, codes of practice,
and other guidelines developed by its committees, and by promoting
their adoption and implementation by governments, Codex seeks to ensure
that the world's food supply is sound, wholesome, free from
adulteration, and correctly labeled. In the United States, USDA, FDA,
and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) manage and carry out U.S.
Codex activities.
The Codex Committee on Methods of Analysis and Sampling (CCMAS)
performs multiple functions; defines criteria appropriate for Codex
Methods of Analysis and Sampling; specifies reference methods of
analysis and sampling; endorses methods of analysis and sampling
proposed by Codex Committees; elaborates sampling plans; and considers
specific sampling and analysis problems. The Committee is chaired by
Hungary.
Issues To Be Discussed at the Public Meeting
The following items on the agenda for the 26th Session of CCMAS
will be discussed during the public meeting:
1. Matters referred by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other
Codex Committees
2. Proposed Draft Guidelines for Evaluating Acceptable Methods of
Analysis
3. Fitness-for-Purpose Approach (for inclusion in the Proposed Draft
[[Page 5414]]
Guidelines for Evaluating Acceptable Methods of Analysis)
4. Proposed Draft Guidelines for Settling Disputes on Analytical (Test)
Results
5. Use of Analytical Results (For inclusion in the Procedural Manual)
6. Further Review of Analytical Terminology for Codex Use (For
inclusion in the Procedural Manual)
7. Criteria for Methods of analysis for foods derived from
biotechnology
8. Methods of analysis for dioxins and PCBs
Each issue listed will be fully described in documents distributed,
or to be distributed, by the Hungarian Secretariat to the Meeting.
Members of the public may access copies of these documents http://www.codexalimentarius.net/web/index_en.asp
.
Public Meeting
At the March 15, 2005 public meeting, these agenda items will be
described, discussed, and attendees will have the opportunity to pose
questions and offer comments. Written comments may be offered at the
meeting or sent to the U.S. Delegate, for the 26th Session of the
CCMAS, Dr. Gregory Diachenko (See ADDRESSES). Written comments should
state that they relate to activities of the 26th Session of the CCMAS.
Additional Public Information
Public awareness of all segments of rulemaking and policy
development is important. Consequently, in an effort to ensure that the
public and in particular minorities, women, and persons with
disabilities are aware of this notice, FSIS will announce it on-line
through the FSIS Web page located at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/regulations/2005NoticesIndex/
.
FSIS also will make copies of this Federal Register publication
available through the FSIS Constituent Update, which is used to provide
information regarding FSIS policies, procedures, regulations, Federal
Register notices, FSIS public meeting, recalls, and other types of
information that could affect or would be of interest to our
constituents and stakeholders. The update is communicated via Listserv,
a free e-mail subscription service consisting of industry, trade, and
farm groups, consumer interest groups, allied health professionals,
scientific professionals, and other individuals who have requested to
be included. The update is available on the FSIS web page. Through
Listserv and the web page, FSIS is able to provide information to a
much broader, more diverse audience.
In addition, FSIS offers an email subscription service which
provides an automatic and customized notification when popular pages
are updated, including Federal Register publications and related
documents. This service is available at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/news_and_events/email_subscription/
and allows FSIS customers to sign up
for subscription options across eight categories. Options range from
recalls to export information to regulations, directives and notices.
Customers can add or delete subscriptions themselves and have the
option to password protect their account.
Done at Washington, DC on January 25, 2005.
F. Edward Scarbrough,
U.S. Manager for Codex Alimentarius.
[FR Doc. 05-1894 Filed 2-1-05; 8:45 am]