CRN-I Sets Codex Symposium Agenda

MANNO, SwitzerlandCodex  policy and science will be addressed in two keynote addresses at CRN-Is second scientific symposium, Nutrition Issues in Codex: Health Claims and Nutrient Reference Values (NRVs)," on Nov. 12, 2011 in Kronberg im Taunus, Germany. The one-day conference, designed to engage regulators, policymakers, scientists and academics in science-based discussions on nutrition issues related to Codex, will feature keynote addresses by  David Jukes and Peter J. Aggett.

Jukes, a senior lecturer in food regulation in the Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, U.K., will speak about Codex standards and their role in the international regulatory framework. His session will also touch specifically on how Codex documents, including guidelines and standards, can be educational and useful for Codex member governments, providing insights on how these documents are often used as templates for policy and regulatory requirements. 

Professor Peter J. Aggett, formerly the head of the Lancashire School of Health and Postgraduate Medicine at the University of Central Lancashire, U.K., will provide the science keynote on nutrient bioavailability and its impact on health claims and nutrient reference values (NRVs).  He will discuss specifically how bioavailability influences the quantitative dietary requirements that are the basis of nutrient intake recommendations and NRVs.

The remainder of the symposium will be broken out into two sessions: 1) scientific standards for food label claims and 2) issues related to NRVs. The first session features six speakers including, professor Philip C. Calder, University of Southampton, Southampton, U.K., discussing the differences between evidence-based nutrition and evidence-based medicine, and what if anything that means for health claims; and Heike Bischoff-Ferrari, M.D., MPH, of the University of Zurich, who will discuss vitamin D and the evidence for non-skeletal claims.  The second session will include a presentation by Oran Kwon, Ph.D., a professor at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, Republic of Korea, on the impacts of Codex decisions to base NRVs on INL-98, and means for adult men and women, with specific age group cutoffs. 

The symposium will immediately precede the official meeting of the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU), which will be held in nearby Bad Soden, Germany.  The symposium is open, by invitation only, to Codex delegates and their staff, regulators from Codex-member countries, selected academic researchers and CRN-I members.  CRN-I is the international subsidiary of the Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN).