Brussels, 23/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - As expected, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on Tuesday reached political agreement on two new official controls to ensure the hygiene of food of animal origin destined for human consumption. The proposal is one of five making up the so-called “hygiene package” of measures unveiled in 2000. The draft Regulation was revised in July 2002 (see EUROPE of 24 July 2002), and provides for revised rules for official controls on fresh meat, live bivalve molluscs, and milk and milk products.
As regards meat, the proposed Regulation will implement a risk-based approach to meat inspection; establish a continuous flow of information between primary production and slaughterhouses; and create a clear division of responsibilities between the slaughterhouse operator and the competent authorities. It will provide for flexibility, to ensure the continued use of traditional methods of production, processing and distribution, and to accommodate the needs of food businesses with a low throughput or that are situated in regions that are subject to special geographic constraints (e.g. remote islands or sparsely populated mountain regions).
As regards live bivalve molluscs, the proposed Regulation identifies what needs to be done by the competent authority in order to ensure the safety of these products. 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-producing plankton and the presence of chemical contamination.
As regards milk and dairy products, new rules aims to ensure that where raw milk fails to meet the required health standards, corrective action is taken at farm level, and that milk that might constitute a hazard to human health cannot be delivered for human consumption.
Once adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, the Regulations will replace the Directive on the hygiene of foodstuffs (93/43) and sixteen product specific Council Directives. The entire food hygiene package will be adopted following a vote at the EP (codecision procedure) on the final proposals.