A U.N. food commission has adopted a new standard for the production and
handling of powdered infant formula in a bid to prevent diseases in young
children, health officials said Wednesday.
The benchmark, adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, contains a
series of measures for powdered baby formula to reduce the risk of
contamination from a bacteria that can lead to serious illness, said Peter
Ben Embarek, a food safety scientist with the World Health Organization.

A few years ago when babies became ill and even died because infant formula
in developing countries was contaminated or was mixed with dirty water, it
became clear that some products were unsafe, he said.

In China, for example, a producer in 2005 put too little nutritional value
in an infant formula, leaving children malnourished and killing some of
them.

The new standard includes recommendations for parents and caretakers on how
to prepare the bottles for babies and how to safely store them, Embarek
said.

?If you don't store the bottles properly, then you allow growth of these
bacteria and the recontamination of the powder and therefore increase the
risk of having this infection at the end,? he said.

The codex commission, which has 174 member countries plus the European
Union, adopted the standard during its annual meeting held this week in
Geneva.

The commission, set up by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N.
and the World Health Organization, is a worldwide reference for food safety
for consumers and trade of foodstuffs. It is up to individual countries to
adopt and enforce the standards.

The commission also adopted guidelines to assess the potential health risk
should genetically modified animals be used for food.

Although food made from GM animals has yet to come on the market, the
commission decided to anticipate industry developments to make sure such
food receives proper risk assessment before it reaches the consumer.

?There are developments in a number of countries,? said Jorgen Schlundt, a
scientist in WHO's food safety division. ?But whether a specific country
decides to go on and put it on the market, that's really not our (business).

?GM food can be good to solve problems,? Schlundt said, referring to plants
modified so that they can withstand dry weather or rice containing vitamin
A.
?But GM food can also have risks and therefore we have to do risk assessment
before using it,? he said.

The commission has already adopted similar guidelines for risk assessment
for genetically modified plants and microorganisms.

Another new standard adopted by the commission states that food labeled
gluten-free may not contain wheat, rye, barley or oats and the gluten level
must not exceed 20 milligrams per kilogram.

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