Background
The 15th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF15) agreed to establish an Electronic Working Group (EWG) led by Brazil to establish maximum levels (MLs) for lead in certain food categories and to issue a call for data for lead in fresh and dried culinary herbs and dried spices (including floral parts bark, rhizomes, bulbs and roots) for consideration by CCCF17.
We are therefore requesting submission of new or additional data on lead in the following food commodities:
- Dry spices (floral parts; bark; rhizomes, bulbs and roots, such as ginger and turmeric)
- Fresh and culinary herbs
We are requesting submission of new data covering approximately the last 10 years.
Data should be submitted as indicated below, to allow time for data analysis and drafting of the paper by the EWG.
The call for data can also be viewed online at https://covid.comesa.int/health-topics/food-safety or https://www.fao.org/food-safety/scientific-advice/calls-for-data-and-experts-expert-rosters/en/.
Date for submission
The submission of data is requested before
10 October 2022
This deadline applies to all data to be submitted.
WHO will be compiling data for the EWG.
All new data must be submitted to WHO through the GEMS database, which is easily accessible on the web.
To access the GEMS database, go to: https://extranet.who.int/gemsfood/Default.aspx. To submit data, you will need an account, and instructions on creating an account can be found on the website.
For technical questions about submitting data to GEMS, please contact Dr Luc Ingenbleek (ingenbleekl@who.int) at WHO.
Please make sure that you read the “GEMS/Food Database Manual” before attempting to submit data to GEMS.
When submitting data to the GEMS/Food database for this work, please:
- Provide complete information on the LOQ and LOD of analytical methods.
- Complete information for identification of the samples (serial number);
- Provide information in the “Local Food Identifier” or “WHO food identifier” fields of the database to allow more specific identification of samples, e.g., dried or fresh, e.g. dried rosemary, dried cilantro, fresh thyme, dried oregano, dried cloves.
- Provide information on the species of the vegetal as internationally recognised in English, e.g. rosemary, cilantro, thyme, ginger.
- Results analysed on dry weight basis should be converted on “as is” basis considering the humidity of the product.