Philippines stalls EU move to enact stricter food standards

The Philipines effectively stalled moves by some members of the European Union (EU) to enact stricter food standards that will make it tougher for exporters of fish and marine products to penetrate the European market.

Food Development Center director Dr. Alicia O. Lustre who represented the Philippine government in the recent 36th session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) in The Netherlands, said in her report to Director Malcom Sarmiento of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, that the committee agreed to defer the adoption of proposals intended to set new standards for the entry of fish and marine products from exporting countries like the Philippines.

CAC is the international body tasked with developing a food code known as the Codex Alimentarius, the global reference point for harmonized or uniform food standards to ensure the protection of public health and fair practices in food trade.

The Philippines strongly opposed EU’s proposal to the CCFAC to set the new maximum allowable level (ML) of lead contaminants on fish, marine and aquaculture products to 0.2 parts per million (ppm) from the current level of 0.5 ppm.

"The lower level could cause rejection of Philippine tuna in international trade and will increase the cost and skills requirement for lead testing," Lustre said.

Lustre noted that at this point, there is no internationally validated method of lead testing in fish. The government also presented new information based on the 53rd meeting of the joint Food and Agriculture Organization/World Health Organization committee on food additives and contaminants (JECFA) that maintaining the ML for lead in fish will not pose risks to public health.

Previously, Agriculture Secretary Luis Lorenzo Jr. urged FAO-United Nations to support the Philippine position on the issue of establishing a new ML for lead in fish.

"Current risk assessment and other information indicates there is no basis to do so from the point of view of risk to human health and problems in trade," Lorenzo said in a ltter to David Byron, head of the Codex Secretariat under FAO-UN.

The CCFAC agreed to review the draft ML for lead in fish in the light of the risk assessment of the JECFA.

The Philippines also got support from India, Morocco and South Africa on its rejection of a proposed adoption of a tiered approach in establishing ML based on levels of lead in a list of internationally-traded fish species. This will result in a non-tariff barrier in the trading of fish species not included in the list.

While the proposed new rules on fish and fishery products exports failed to garner support, the Philippine government will still need to work even harder to gain the support of more fish-exporting countries.

The EU is expected to revive its proposal at the next CCFAC meeting in 2006.