Codex fish oil standard must be flexible: GOED

24-Feb-2011 - Last updated on 24-Feb-2011 at 17:43 GMT

Related tags Fatty acid Omega-3 fatty acid Nutrition

Plans to develop a Codex Alimentarius standard for fish oil should be flexible enough to protect human health and to promote international trade, warns the omega-3 trade association Global Organization for EPA and DHA (GOED).

Harry Rice, VP regulatory and scientific affairs told NutraIngredientsUSA.com: “GOED’s primary concern is that the adopted standard will not be flexible enough to allow for rapid innovation and natural variations in oil composition due to environmental factors.”

Defining fish oils by their fatty acid profiles is very problematic, warned the organization. “Fatty acid profiles of short lifespan fish vary significantly based on environmental factors, so a static set of defined fatty acid ranges could limit the commercial trade of oils due to causes outside the control of industry,” said Rice.

Global market

For example, anchovy oils make up most of the global market for omega-3 oils but fatty acid levels can vary significantly from, season-to-season and from region-to-region. Factors influencing this variation include climatic patterns such as El Niño and La Niña, season and geographic region of capture and even change in response to natural disasters like earthquakes.

While traditionally the fatty acid profiles in longer life fish are less varied, GOED’s members are seeing that the fatty acid levels are beginning to fluctuate more due to fishery management practices, according to the organization.

Adopting of an inflexible standard could have severe consequences, said Rice.

“The adoption of an inflexible standard would result in restriction, rather than promotion, of free trade. It would also limit consumers’ access to quality sources of EPA and DHA which are critical to human nutrition.”

The proposed standard will cover only oil from fish and shellfish. Algal and mammal oils, such as seal and whale, will be excluded from the scope of the proposed work.

Swiss proposal

In July, the Codex Alimentarius Commission will consider whether to endorse the CCFO recommendation to develop the standard for fish oil. Some countries have raised concerns about the need for more technical details on the processing of fish oils and trade data in the Swiss proposal. “It is GOED’s understanding that the Codex member countries will be responsible for getting this information to the Swiss delegation by the end of April,” said Rice.

No one from the Codex Committee on Fats and Oils (CCFO) was available for comment before publication.

The Codex Alimentarius Commission was created in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FA0) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to develop food standards, guidelines and related texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme.

The program aims to protect consumers’ health, ensure fair trade practices in the food trade, and to promote the coordination of all food standards work undertaken by international governmental and non-governmental organizations.

Meanwhile, fish oil is the largest source of omega-3, accounting for about 85 percent of the market by volume, according to market analysts Frost & Sullivan.

GOED estimates that up to 10 percent of the total 1m tons crude fish oil produced per year is used to produce omega-3 for human consumption.