Brussels, 14/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - The main conclusion of the report by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), published on Monday 13 September (http: //ec.europa.eu/food/fvo/rep_details _en.cfm?rep_id=2509), is that “France has a system of official controls of fisheries products, which respects, in general, the provisions established in Regulation (EC) 882/2004 on official controls of animal feed and foodstuffs”. The FVO carried out an audit between the end of April and the beginning of May 2010 in France, to assess the control systems governing the production and marketing of fishery products.
FVO experts concluded that coordination between the decentralised services in charge of food, at an official aquaculture health control level, “is not totally effective and leads to an absence of regular and appropriate health controls at this level”. Furthermore, the audit suggests that current cooperation/coordination between the decentralised services in charge of food and their counterparts in the health services “displays shortcomings during official controls carried out on the drinking water used in establishments, as well on clean seawater”.
The FVO, nonetheless, revealed certain breaches of Community provisions in the different departments visited: the absence of official controls of primary production fishing boats, the lack of prior visits when freezer ship certification is awarded and the existence of non-certificated fresh fish market hall establishments (such as the halles à marée). (L.C./transl.fl)