Brussels, 21/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - Last week in Strasbourg the European Parliament adopted a report by MEP Marit Paulsen (Swedish Liberal) on new health rules for animal by-products used in animal feed, strengthening the Council's common position on the regulation by imposing strict rules for animal by-products not destined for human consumption and restricting the scope of the ban on the use of slops, to the great disappointment of Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne.
Parliament also approved the Council common position on the text amending two existing Directives to adopt them to the regulation's new safety measures (amending Directive 90/425/ECC on veterinary conditions applying to intra-Community trade of live animals and products and Directive 92/118/EEC laying down health policy and safety conditions for trade and the import of specific products into the Community).
The regulation, on which Parliament was giving its opinion in second reading, aims to ban the recycling in the food chain of animal carcasses and declassified animal by-products, to prevent diseases caused by animal feed and also to merge into a single, complete and directly applicable text all the different directives and decision on animal feed that have been adopted over the past decade and longer.
Through its vote, Parliament expressed satisfaction that the Council and Commission had accepted a hundred or so amendments covering three main issues that MEPs had defended in first reading, namely 1) that only animal by-products that are recognised as fit for human consumption can be used for animal feed, cosmetics and medicines; 2) that animal cannibalism be banned (a practice whereby an animal is fed with feed made from remains of its own species); 3) that the new regulation be flexible enough to allow it to keep up with technological changes and the latest scientific discoveries.
All the same, feeling that the Council common position did not go far enough, Parliament retabled some amendments that had been ignored by the EU ministers concerning the labelling of imported raw materials for pet food, separating off premises where animal by-products are processed, a link between the draft regulation and the temporary ban on animal proteins in animal feed and the application of stricter rules to cooking oils.
Noting the Council's desire to impose a general ban on the use of slops (particularly water-fat mixtures), Parliament wanted to restrict the scope of the bank under very strict conditions. Parliament believes that a ban on using kitchen slops, along with the obligation to register and monitor the disposal and processing of kitchen waste, will be more effective than a general ban which it sees as impossible to monitor sufficiently closely.
A series of amendments were approved to ensure that the use of such raw materials would not lead to any risk to the environment, human health or animals.
Parliament says that the Member States that currently authorise the use of some types of kitchen slops for feeding pigs and poultry under strictly monitored conditions (like kitchen oil used in the UK, specific kinds of sterilised slops used in Austria and Germany, recycled sludge from purification plants that may arise from the processing of effluent from abattoirs and other meat processing plants in France) must still be able to do so for a transition period of no more than four years. The compromise amendments approved in this connection will give the Member States in question time to adopt to the new rules.
To avoid any illegal use of such kitchen slops during the transition period (which causes swine fever and foot and mouth outbreaks), Parliament called on the Commission to present legislation by 30 June 2002 making it compulsory to provide proof that kitchen slops have been safely disposed of, and ban their use in animal feed unless the Member States' competent authorities guarantee that 1) the waste was processed in line with appropriate sterilisation standards guaranteeing the destruction of swine fever and foot and mouth pathogens; 2) this processing was only carried out in officially authorised plants; and 3) the obligation to register kitchen slops is applicable in the Member States.
David Byrne disappointed about Parliament's refusal to adopt an essential regulation
David Byrne said that the European Commission could not agree to the amendments on kitchen slops and expressed disappointment in the vote on this point, which would delay the adoption of the regulation although Parliament, Council and the Commission agreed on the basic elements of the regulation. He said the regulation was vital for excluding from the food chain the carcasses of animals and other declassified material and also to ensure that the 16 million tonnes of animal by-products generated in the EU each year were disposed of safely. The continued absence of a solid and complete regulatory framework for animal by-products is dangerous, he said.
Stressing that virtually all Member States had come out in favour of a ban on water/fat emulsions in animal food, David Byrne said that keeping this practice for pig food would be incompatible with the quality and total traceablity targets for feed ingredients, and also with the ban on recycling products of the same species that the three institutions had agreed upon. He also pointed out that failing rules on the use of kitchen slops in the regulation, a ban on the use of water-fat mixtures in animal feed would apply in any case from 1 November 2002 onwards under the recent directive to combat classic swine fever (Directive 2001/89/EC).
The conciliation procedure between Parliament and Council is now inevitable.