Brussels, 23/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday, the European Commission announced that it had adopted a proposal intended to better manage the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption, such as fresh meat, live bivalve molluscs, and milk and
dairy products. Since the unveiling on 14 July 2000 of five proposals to update food safety legislation (currently being examined by Council and Parliament),new scientific advice has been published justifying better organisation of the way meat is inspected, explained Commissioner David Byrne's services, explaining why the new proposal had been published.
The key elements of the new proposal, product-by-product:
- Official meat inspections. The proposed system implements a since-based approach to meat inspection, looking at all microbiological, chemical and physical risks to meat safety, with the official veterinary officer playing a key role (being responsible for information about the production chain, ante and post mortem inspections, ensuring animal welfare and specific risk materials rules are respected, etc) and incorporates a tighter from farm to fork approach (a continuous exchange of information between the original farm and the abattoirs), with a detailed breakdown of responsibility between farmers, abattoirs and the competent authorities. It also aims to line up with legislation on meat inspection in upcoming EU rules on food safety, zoonoses and official inspections of animal feed and food.
- Live bivalve molluscs. Special risk management measures including strict environmental controls since live molluscs can have high concentrations of bacteria and viruses in their tissue. This includes the setting up of a monitoring programme of harvesting areas to check the microbiological quality of live bivalve molluscs, the presence of toxin-forming plankton and the presence of chemical contamination. Should these inspections reveal that the levels allowed in the EU have been exceeded, the marketing of the molluscs in question can be suspended.
- Milk and dairy products. Where raw milk fails to meet the required health standards, corrective action can be taken at farm level and milk that could constitute a health hazard for human beings should not be delivered for human consumption.
