The Philippine seafood exporters are rejecting a proposal to impose more stringent rules for the entry of marine products to the European Union (EU) through a new food code or standard.
A Philippine delegation led by Dr. Alicia Lustre, executive director of the Food Development Center (FDC), is set to present the country's position before the Codex Alimentarious Commission (CAC) Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC), which will hold a plenary meeting from March 14 - 21 in Tanzania, which is a preparation for the CAC round in July 2003 to be held at The Netherlands. CAC is the international body tasked with developing a food code known as the Codex Alimentarious, the global reference point for harmonized or uniform food standards to ensure the protection of public health and fair practices in the food trade.
A draft country position paper stated that the Philippines will negotiate with the CCFAC to put the new maximum level of lead contaminants on tuna fish, marine and aquaculture products to 0.6 parts per million (ppm), instead of the 0.2 ppm being pushed by some countries of the EU.
Currently the EU allows a maximum lead content of 0.4 ppm. Therefore a 0.6 ppm limit seems a realistic goal.
However, Dr. Lustre explained earlier that it would be difficult for seafood exporters to comply with a lower lead content for their products. There is no existing methodology that can bring down the lead content of marine and fishery products to 0.2 ppm level.
Moreover, the EU's insistence on the establishment of maximum level by fish and marine species will create problems since it is difficult to gather data for all species.
There is also no criteria that has been developed and will serve as the basis for determining if lead is considered a significant contributor to health risk. There is also no concrete evidence yet that exposure to lead through fish consumption is a health hazard.
Lustre said that more information should be gathered on analytical methods and detection limits.
Getting a favorable ruling from the CCFAC is critical to countries like the Philippines objecting to the EU's protectionist lobby. Once the EU's proposal gets approved at the CCFAC level, it will be an uphill climb to have the new rule reversed at the CAC general meeting.
As part of a strategy to beef up its position, the Philippines is also initiating moves to get the support of other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations who are also exporting similar products to the EU.