Brussels, 01/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - So as better to combat certain human food-borne diseases (Salmonellosis) and transmitted following the consumption especially of farm poultry (breeding poultry, laying hens), the European Commission adopted a report on Wednesday on the current situation accompanied by two proposals aimed at reviewing current legislation on the prevention and control of zoonoses (it is more precisely a question of replacing the 1992 directive by two new texts, a regulation and a directive). According to a Commission expert, the goal of the new strategy will consist, after a lengthy transition period, of placing on the market only eggs coming from flocks that have been tested negative. He said that among the 200 varieties of zoonoses recorded, only two of them (Salmonella and Campylobacter, with respectively 165,000 and 126,000 cases and a mortal case in a thousand) were responsible for 80% of cases of human diseases, but that they were all the more difficult to prevent in that they cannot be detected among the animals.
The proposed directive aims and making monitoring of 8 types of zoonoses compulsory (against the current 4) and to strengthen this with the following measures: - better co-ordinate activities to facilitate cooperation between the authorities responsible for public health and animal health; - harmonise the current system for collecting data by creating common criteria; - set up co-ordinated monitoring programmes, co-funded by the Community, the results of which may serve as reference in view of a possible modification of the goals of the reduction of pathogens; - ensure better monitoring of hearths of collective food intoxication; - also include the monitoring of the resistance of zoonotic organisms to antibiotics.
The draft regulation, based on the control and risk-management within livestock, lays down the basis for a new approach through the setting up of a framework for a pathogen reduction policy, according to the following timetable: - 2005 onwards for breeding flocks of chicken; - 2006 onwards for laying hens; - 2007 onwards for broilers; 2008 onwards to turkeys and breeding pigs. At the end of the transition period, marketing restrictions will be implemented (from 2008) for table eggs from flocks suspected or confirmed of harbouring certain types of salmonella. Poultry meat will also have to comply with set microbiological criteria from 2009 onwards. A procedure is also laid down to set targets for other animal populations or zoonotic agents other than salmonella. To meet these requirements, Member States will have to adopt national monitoring programmes and encourage the collaboration of the private sector. Certification of salmonella status will be made obligatory, according to the aforementioned timetable for trade between Member states in relevant live animals and hatching eggs. EU equivalent certification measures will be required for imports from third countries to within the community territory, according to the same time frame. The proposal grants the Commission the possibility of excluding certain monitoring methods of zoonoses, such as the use and antibiotics of vaccinations, or to decide on their conditions of use.
The report examine the experience acquired since the mid-90s in the fight against zoonoses and concludes that a fundamental change of approach to monitoring and control is necessary. It states that in 1992, only six Member Sates (Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Sweden, Austria and France) fully applied Community provisions on controlling zoonoses.