Thailand’s system of official controls of the production of poultry meat for the EU market contains substantial failures, according to a report by the EU's Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) published on 23 August.
The report describes the outcome of an audit carried out by Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety in Thailand from 22 January to 2 February 2018. The objective of the audit was to evaluate whether the official control system covering the production of poultry meat and products derived therefrom intended for export to the European Union, as well as certification procedures currently in place, can provide adequate guarantees that the production of those commodities is in line with the requirements laid down in EU legislation and, in particular, are able to support the attestations contained in the relevant export health veterinary certificates.
The audit found that a control system is in place but "a number of substantial failures in its implementation, led to serious deficiencies in establishments going unnoticed and/or unrecorded, and thus uncorrected", explains the FVO.
Worse than in 2013. The audit even concluded that "the overall effectiveness of the official control system has if anything worsened since the audit in 2013". The experts noted "major deficiencies" in four of the eight poultry-exporting establishments visited. The competent central authorities immediately removed these operators from the EU's list.
The report contains five recommendations for the competent authorities to address the identified shortcomings. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)