Customs and excise tariff classification

CCFRA has just completed the first year of a 5-year contract as chemists to Her Majesty's Customs and Excise regarding import tariff classification. The nature of import tariffs is complex, and CCFRA's role, although primarily linked to food compositional analysis, extends to being able to classify any type of goods in international trade, as Louise Gearey explains:

'HM Customs and Excise Tariff and the Combined Nomenclature of the EC are both based on the internationally agreed systems of classification, designed to ensure that any product or article in international trade can be classified in only one place within the system. This allows import tariffs to be applied in a uniform way to products being imported into the European Union. Our primary role is to analyse food samples, and classify them according to the Combined Nomenclature, but we have been asked to classify any type of imported product. We also have a special role to play in ensuring that differences in interpretation amongst EU Member States are highlighted and resolved.

Import duty into the UK alone totals around £2billion per year, of which 25% derives from goods covered by the Common Agricultural Policy. Our familiarity with the system allows us to offer specific help to clients who are importing foods. Companies are required to declare which category of the Combined Nomenclature their imports fall under. If the Customs and Excise Department feels that this categorisation is incorrect, they will levy the tariff they believe to be applicable to the type of product in question, only refunding any extra charges if they are proved wrong. In addition, if there is an error by the importer, the correct higher level of tariff may be applied retrospectively to all similar products from that importer back to the date when a correctly declared consignment was checked.'

For further details and advice regarding import classification and tariffs, contact:

McCance and Widdowson - new edition available from CCFRA

McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods(Sixth Summary Edition) published by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Food Standards Agency provides authoritative and comprehensive nutrient data for over 1,200 of the most commonly consumed foods in the UK. This new summary edition, which covers all food groups, includes updated information on key foods such as milk, cheese, bread, breakfast cereals, and meat and meat products, and incorporates data from supplements published since the 4th and 5th editions. There are also new entries for many foods that have become popular in recent years, such as fresh pasta and crème fraiche.

Values for a wide range of nutrients (e.g. proximates, vitamins, inorganics, non-starch polysaccharides, and fatty acid totals) are provided. Additional tables cover phytosterols, carotenoid fractions, vitamin E fractions and, for the first time, vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) and AOAC fibre.

Aimed at students and professionals in all food and health disciplines, The Composition of Foods remains the essential handbook for those who need to know the nutritional value of foods consumed in the UK.

Cost: £45 + p&p

New nitrogen data for duck

A combination of analytical work at CCFRA and surveys of the literature have enabled us to recommend nitrogen factors for duck meat content. This further complements our service to clients in matters relating to meat content calculation. Dawn Turner, of CCFRA's Food Composition Section comments:

'We have received countless questions regarding meat content calculation for various cuts of duck meat. As far as we are aware, this is the first consolidated list of nitrogen factors for this type of meat. There have been several interesting findings from our analytical work, such as the difference in factors for breast meat of wild and domesticated duck (3.33 and 3.21 respectively), and for wet and dry plucked ducks (3.28 and 2.91 respectively)'

Work was also undertaken to derive factors for venison and wild boar meat (3.61 and 3.38 respectively) and to confirm existing values for heart of different species: pork (2.98); beef (3.10); lamb (2.88); veal (2.77) and chicken (2.84).

Baking textbook in Spanish

The book 'The Technology of Breadmaking' (edited by RA staff, Stan Cauvain and Linda Young) will now reach the Spanish speaking world. It has been translated and published by Acribia, S.A. It looks as though its reputation as a definitive and modern work for the baking industry is spreading far and wide. The rights have also been sold for a translation into Chinese.

In its English version, it is in its 2nd printing - and is published by Aspen Publishers, Inc.

Tin in canned foods

A series of surveys carried out at CCFRA has indicated that tin levels in canned foods are generally well under control. Tin contents of around 250ppm and above can cause short-term stomach problems in sensitive individuals, and there is a statutory limit of 200ppm in all foods in the UK. Acidic fruit and tomato products packed in cans that are not fully lacquered are the most likely products to show elevated tin levels. Exposed tinplate allows slow and controlled dissolution of tin into the product, helping to maintain product quality characteristics, and at the same time providing electrochemical protection to the metal can.

Under a Food Standards Agency project, a whole range of these types of product were purchased and analysed. All but two out of 400 samples were found to have tin levels below the legal maximum; indeed, the majority had tin levels below 10ppm, mainly due to the fact that the use of fully lacquered cans has become more widespread in recent years.

A brief report on the latest findings is available on the Food Standards Agency website (www.food.gov.uk); full results will be published as a CCFRA R&D report in the near future.

Discounts on CCFRA publications

Significant discounts are available on purchases of multiple copies of most CCFRA publications. This means that companies wishing to use a particular publication in support of training activities or to hold copies of the same publication at different sites can make significant savings. Like all publications, CCFRA's documents are protected by copyright law - so photocopying them for distribution without permission not only creates poor quality copies but is illegal. The new discount system is designed to provide companies with cost-effective access to multiple copies of high-quality, professionally printed documents for their own use. The arrangement covers all CCFRA guidelines, technical manuals, reviews and key topics but, for contractual reasons, does not include those we distribute for other publishers or organisations. Further information or specific quotations, please contact the publications office.