According to a report by the EU’s Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) that was published on 20 December 2023, the European Union has identified weaknesses in Spanish controls on frozen tuna intended for human consumption.
The report – the result of an audit that the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) carried out in Spain from 20 February to 14 March 2023 – concludes that official controls on vessels freezing tuna are adequate. However, some inconsistencies were noted regarding compliance with national rules for frozen tuna intended for human consumption.
According to the report, Spain established criteria for tuna frozen in brine to be considered eligible for direct human consumption. Although most operators of freezer vessels have not completed their validation studies of the freezing process, they are all being allowed to market their products for direct human consumption – a situation lamented by the FVO.
The report also points out that products from Spanish freezer vessels may enter Spain through reefer vessels from third countries, where import controls are limited to checking the brine temperature and the freezing times. This procedure, which also applies to products from third countries, compromises the effectiveness of the official control system for ensuring that Spanish vessels comply with national rules.
Moreover, the FVO notes that products landed directly in Europe from vessels flying a Member State’s flag are not subject to any additional controls as far as [verifying] compliance with freezing conditions is concerned. For products transhipped to vessels flying a third country’s flag and landed in Member States other than Spain, import controls are mainly based on health certificate statements, rather than additional verifications at Spanish border control posts, according to EU experts.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/aa8 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)