Brussels, 13/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - A retailer who sells fresh poultry may, even though active only at the distribution stage, may be fined for having placed on the market a foodstuff which fails to comply with the microbiological criterion, such as for salmonella, ruled the Court of Justice of the EU in a judgment (case C-443/13) on Thursday 13 November.
According to the interpretation of EU law given by the Court, fresh poultry meat must satisfy the microbiological criteria for salmonella at all the stages of distribution including the retail sale stage. This is necessary for the pursuit of one of the fundamental objectives of food legislation, that is, to attain a high level of protection of human health, it said. The European judges ruled in favour of an Austrian food control body which, in 2012, fined a food retail company where it detected salmonella in a fresh turkey vacuum-packed by another company. (JK)