Brussels, 27/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 23 September the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health approved the final measures for facilitating implementation on 1 January 2006 of Community legislation establishing rules for food hygiene in the EU, as well as an official control system that guarantees rules are respected by Member States.
Member State experts at the committee gave the go-ahead to two Commission proposals to guarantee new hygiene rules applicable to food stuffs are correctly interpreted and applied. They are as follows: provisions on information on the food chain, specific testing methods for marine biotoxins, fishery products, lists of approved food establishments, model health certificates for certain products (frogs' legs, snails, gelatine and collagen) as well as derogations for traditional foods; a separate implementing Regulation for outlining specific rules for the control of the parasite Trichinella in meat from susceptible animals. The Commission will now proceed to formally adopting the implementing legislation.
Experts also debated transitional arrangements that apply till 31 December 2009 for some of the new provisions, but these have not been subject to approval. Member State approval is expected in mid-October.
In a press statement, Markos Kyprianou, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection declared, “The hygiene package is a keystone in the EU's new body of food safety legislation, and will greatly strengthen consumer protection and food safety throughout the EU. The implementing rules agreed by Member States today are crucial for ensuring that the hygiene legislation is applied fully and effectively when it enters into force next year, so that EU citizens can be confident that the best possible safety practices are applied at every point in the food chain”.