According to publications in the Spanish press, the Philippine authorities managed to block a proposal of the EU to lower the maximum level of the lead content in seafood. The document which was presented to the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) established that the maximum lead level should not surpass 0.2 parts per million (ppm).
The CCFAC is a committee that depends on the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), a group of tasks created by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) for the development of norms and nourishing standards.
If the proposal had been approved, the world-wide markets would likely have rejected the tuna and other marine exports of the Philippines due to the presence of lead levels between 0.4 ppm and 0.9 ppm. The proposal also would have demanded that the seafood industry invests in expensive equipment that is needed to analyze the lead levels. The decision to reject the European proposal came up during the plenary session of the CCFAC’s 35th, that took place between 15-19 March, according to information provided by Pete C. Borja, vice-president of the subcommittee on subjects related to the Codex of National Agriculture and Fishery Council (NAFC).
"The proposal returned to point 6 of the regulation of the Codex. Therefore, it will be subject to another hearing of the Committee, where new data and evidences will appear ", indicated Borja. The delegation of the Philippines mentioned two main reasons to be against the proposal. On the one hand, it said that the lead presence in the fish does not represent a significant risk for the public health or either for the commerce.
Secondly, the Philippine representatives indicated that there is no established or valid international method to analyze lead contents of 0.2 ppm level. The delegation asked for the Joint Committee of Food Additive Experts (JECFA) of WHO/FAO to study this subject and submit their position at the next CCFAC plenary session. Another proposal from the EU delegation, which establishes two maximum levels different for the lead content in the fish, was also rejected by the Philippine delegation.
The first proposed maximum level would be of 0.2 ppm, whereas the second would be of 0.5 ppm.
"We were against to this method for the simple reason that it is very difficult to identify all fish species and determine to which specie the first level would correspond to and to which the second", said Borja. If it had not been for Philippines opposition, the opposition of the Philippines -impelled by NAFC and by the Philippine Association of Marine Seaweed Industries (SIAP), the CCFAC would have approved the proposal.
The lead content in the fish had not been a subject for debate until only recently. Once the Philippine delegation opened the debate on this subject, other countries became aware of the implications to establish a maximum level of lead content. Philippines obtained the support of Japan, South Korea South, China and India ", indicated Boria. If the proposal had been approved during the plenary session, it would have been extremely difficult to revert it at the CAC’s general assembly next July.