Health

1
Shared healthcare challenges
Food Safety in the European Union - Seattle, 12
April 2008 -
Canice Nolan - EC Delegation to the USA
2
The EU

• 27 countries
• 490 million consumers
• Educated, informed
• With high expectations for- Safety- Quality-
  Choice- Availability- Price- Convenience-
  Taste
• Worlds largest importer of food

3
Response to crises

• Separate the promotional aspects of agriculture
  from food safety SANCO
• Separate risk assessment from risk management -
  EFSA
• Enhance risk communication

4
Level EU ploughing field

• Uniformity of application (defragment market)
• Move from Directives to Regulations
• Train the auditors/trainers
• Domestic vs imported meet same standards
• Dont let market penalise those with higher
  standards
• Harmonise and improve standards
• Include a regulatory impact assessment
• Equivalence vs compliance
• Help where necessary
• SMEs
• Developing countries Aid for Trade
• RD
• International engagement
• Codex, IPPC, FAO, OIE, WHO
• World Bank

5
General Food Law
Regulation (EC) N 178/2002

• General principles (definitions)
• Risk analysis
• EFSA
• Traceability
• Precautionary principle
• RASFF

6
General Food Law

• Article 17 Liability
• Operators at all stages shall ensure food and
  feed is safe
• Article 18 Traceability
• All food, feed and animals one step up, one step
  down
• Article 11 - Imports
• Food and feed imported into the Community shall
  comply with the food law or conditions recognised
  as equivalent
• Article 12 - Exports
• Food and feed exported shall comply with the food
  law, unless otherwise requested by importing
  authorities

7
HYGIENE 1

• EP and Council Reg. (EC) N. 852/2004
• Requirements for all food
• Registration of establishments for all food
  business and production
• Objectives
• safety of foodstuffs from farm to fork
• to facilitate controls at all stages of
  production, distribution, export.
• Means
• primary responsibility rests with food business
  operators
• mark applied directly to the product, the
  wrapping or packaging, or printed on a label
  affixed to the product/or a non-removable tag
• food operators other than at the level of primary
  production shall apply the HACCP introduced by
  the Codex Alimentarius
• MS shall encourage the development of national
  GMPs by food operators
• Microbiological criteria and temperature
  controls.

8
HYGIENE 2

• EP and Council Reg. (EC) N. 853/2004
• Requirements for food of animal origin
• Approval of establishments
• A health mark by veterinary authorities
• An identification mark by companies
• Animals must be clean
• (Simplified) requirements for slaughterhouses and
  cutting plants
• Emergency slaughter.
• Objectives
• safety of foodstuffs from farm to fork
• to facilitate controls.

9
HYGIENE 3

• EP and Council Reg. (EC) N. 854/2004
• Characteristics Official Controls
• Quantitative assessment of risks determining the
  ante and post-mortem examinations
• Food business operator is still responsible
• Verification by competent authority
• Goal more important than the means.
• Major changes (compared to 64/433/EC and
  71/118/EEC)
• Actions if animals are not clean
• Food chain information
• Visual inspection
• Use of company staff.

10
FOOD RECALL

• Obligation for a business operator to inform
  consumers on the reasons of a withdrawal and, if
  necessary, recall the food when
• A food is considered as not being in compliance
  with the food safety requirements (unsafe food)
  and
• The food in question is on the market and has
  left the immediate control of the food business
  and
• The consumer has access to this food

11
NOTIFICATION

• Article 19.3 requires immediate information to
  the competent authorities of a potential risk and
  action taken to prevent it when a food placed on
  the market may be considered injurious to health
• Added value
• Facilitates a global prevention of risks by
  enabling the competent authorities to receive
  early warnings or to identify potential
  (possibly emerging risks) in order to ensure the
  most efficient and proportionate ways to manage
  them

12
Criteria for notification

• Prohibited substances or ingredients
• Unauthorised substances or ingredients
• Exceeding of legal limits
• Unauthorised establishment for food of animal
  origin
• Unauthorised novel food / GM food
• Physical risk (foreign bodies)
• Incorrect labelling implying health risk
• Other risk based on risk assessment

13
RASFF

• The RASFF is
• a network
• for the notification of direct or indirect risks
  to human health
• deriving from food or feed.
• The RASFF involves
• the Member States,
• the European Commission and
• the Authority (EFSA).
• Each of them designates a contact point, which is
  a member of the network.
• The Commission is responsible for managing the
  network.

14
RASFF Members

• Contact point in each Member Country
• Austria Greece Poland Iceland
• Belgium Hungary Portugal Norway
• Cyprus Ireland Slovakia Liechstenstein
• Czech Republic Italy Slovenia
• Denmark Latvia Sweden
• Estonia Lithuania Spain
• Finland Luxembourg United Kingdom
• France Malta Romania
• Germany Netherlands Bulgaria

• European Food Safety Authority
• European Commission
• EFTA Surveillance Authority

15
RASFF Notifications

• Alert notifications (Year/Number)
• Food or feed for which a risk has been identified
• Product is on the market
• Immediate action is required by members of the
  network
• Information notifications (Year/Letter code)
• Food or feed for which a risk has been identified
• Product has not reached the market
• Immediate action is not required by members of
  the network
• News notifications
• Information related to the safety of food/feed
• Not communicated as an alert or an
  information
• But is judged interesting for the control
  authorities

16
Market Control
MEMBER COUNTRY NOTIFICATION
Media
Border Control
Third country / Media
Business / Consumer
RASFF ASSESSMENT
ANNUAL REPORT
RASFF TRANSMISSION
MEMBERCOUNTRIES
THIRD COUNTRY CONCERNED
17
Procedure for requesting guarantees after
repetitive notifications
RASFF
LETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL COPIES OF
NOTIFICATIONS
MISSION THIRD COUNTRY
MEMBERS STATES CONTACT POINTS
GUARANTEES
THIRD COUNTRY COMPETENT AUTHORITY
18
Evolution of the number of notifications
19
Type of control
20
Product origin
21
Notifications for US exports to EU
GM Rice
Aflatoxin almonds
22
Third countries ?

• Participation in the rapid alert system may be
  opened up to
• applicant countries,
• third countries, or
• international organisations.
• Conditions
• there must be an agreement concluded for this
  purpose, between the EU and the country or
  international organisation concerned
• reciprocity must be granted
• confidentiality measures equivalent to those
  applicable in the EU must be in place.

23
WWRASFF
2015
WWRASFF
2013
Call for tender Regional projects
REGIONAL RASFF
2011
Call for tender Third Countries projects
NATIONAL RASFF EU confidentiality agreement and
reciprocity
RASFF TRAINING
Seminars
2007
24
Closing thought on foodborne disease