Brussels, 14/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - Fewer controls, lower costs and less of an administrative burden: EU veterinary experts agreed on Tuesday 12 October to relax legislation on health rules on animal by-products not intended for human consumption.
The Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health has approved new implementing rules for Regulation 1069/2009 on animal by-products but, the European Commission points out, these rules retain the existing high levels of human and animal health protection. Animal by-products (carcasses or animal parts) are a potential risk to public and animal health, and should not find their way onto consumers' plates. The consequences of misuse of this material became very apparent in a number of scares, including the foot and mouth epizootic, the spread of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the discovery of dioxins in animal feeds.
The new rules, to be applied from 4 March 2011, will see: - packaged pet-food; - biodiesel; - tanned hides and skins; - and some other products exempted from veterinary controls. Experts agree that potential health risks from those products are mitigated by appropriate treatments. This should allow the control focus to be on products which present major health risks. In addition, the administrative burden for economic operators producing medicines and diagnostics from blood fractions, enzymes and tissues from animals, will also be reduced.
The new rules will allow the import of all categories of animal by-products for research and development purposes.
They will also facilitate the feeding of animal by-products to protected species (such as wild animals). This should help the protected species to return to their natural feeding patterns, the aim being to prevent the spread of diseases, thus strengthening biodiversity in the EU.
After consulting stakeholders and the European Parliament, the EU experts approved Commission implementing measures on animal by-product technical details: hygiene standards, processing methods and import and traceability requirements.
Congratulations for Ireland. A Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) report, published on Wednesday 13 October after a visit to Ireland between 23 June and 2 July of this year, stated that the system in place for the handling and disposal of animal by-products was consistent with EU rules. The recommendations of the previous visit had been addressed by the Irish authorities, the EU experts noted. A few deficiencies remain in the Irish system, however, notably at retailer-level and with regard to verification of the marking of animal by-products with glyceroletriheptanoate. (L.C./transl.rt)