One man ’s meat: more food safety

The meat adulteration scandal that hit Europe earlier this year, when foods advertised as containing beef were found to contain undeclared horse meat or pork, is still ongoing. Food safety was unaffected, but the scandal exposed the need for proper traceability in the food supply chain and the importance of correct markings on packages. While horse meat and pork are not harmful to health and are eaten in many countries, they are considered as taboo in others.

Official controls will be carried out at various stages in the food production chain to ensure that legislation is being correctly applied

In the wake of this recent scandal, Brussels unveiled proposals for a landmark package that will modernise, simplify and strengthen food safety across Europe, particularly in the agri-food sector, which represents the second-largest economic sector in the EU. Food safety is high on the EU agenda that aims to ensure retention of consumers’ confidence and sustainability of food production.

Simplicity of the Community legislative framework will be achieved through the replacement of more than 60 current directives and regulations with a single reform package. This will consist of five regulations that will cover plant reproductive material, official controls, animal health, plant health, and food and feed expenditure.

The package of measures provides a modernised, more risk-based approach to the protection of health and more efficient control tools to ensure the effective applic-ation of the rules guiding the operation of the food chain.

While consumers will benefit from safer products and a more effective and transparent system of controls along the food chain, the proposed regulatory framework is also intended to assist operators by reducing current administrative burdens. Special consideration is given to the impact of this legis-lation on SMEs and micro-enterprises that are exempt from the most costly and burdensome elements in the legislation.

The Commission recognised the need to strengthen the means available to national competent authorities to check compliance with EU legislation on the ground. Official controls will be carried out at various stages in the food production chain by EU member states to ensure that the legislation is being correctly applied.

Controls, inspections and tests are to be conducted regularly for more effective action. It is being proposed that controls without prior warning will be introduced, while the proposed legislation seeks to increase the transparency of official control activities, and allows them – under certain conditions – to publish the results of controls on individual operators in the form of rating schemes, whereby consumers can consult data on the performance of retailers, restaur-ants and other businesses.

The current system of mandatory fees to finance the effective implementation of these controls will be changed. The Commission is proposing to extend the principle of cost recovery across the board to most official controls within the agri-food chain to ensure that member states recover the costs of controls through fees charged on operators. In order to avoid the creation of heavy administrative burdens on micro businesses that would deter their competitiveness, exemptions are in place from the payment of the otherwise mandatory fees.

On animal health, the Commission proposes a more flexible framework based on the principle that “prevention is better than cure”. A single piece of legislation regulating animal health in the EU will do away with the current mass of piecemeal legislation that will cover enhanced disease preparedness and increased disease prevention for listed diseases. Clearer guidelines on who is responsible are also contained in the proposed regulation. Primary responsibility for animal health is placed on animal keepers. The proposal requires operators and animal professionals to acquire a basic knowledge of animal health and related matters, and a team of EU veterinary experts is foreseen to be created to provide veterinary assistance to member states.

The Commission proposes to upgrade the existing plant health regime, including seeds and plant propagating material. To prevent new pests from establishing in the EU and to protect plant growers as well as the forestry sector, the new regulation envisages increased traceability of planting material, better surveillance and early eradication of outbreaks of new pest species, as well as financial compensation for growers hit by such eradication. The responsibil-ities for certification of plant reproductive material and issuing of official labels will be transferred from competent authorities to operators. The competent authorities will reserve the right to supervise professional operators at least once a year as well as to conduct “post-certification tests” to confirm compliance with quality requirements.

The European Parliament and the Council will consider the Commission’s package of measures and will subsequently adopt their positions. After this stage is complete, the reform package will be adopted. It is foreseen that the package will enter into force in 2016.

Josette Grech is an associate with Guido de Marco & Associates and heads its European law division.