Aflatoxin contamination of products of non-animal origin under Regulation (EC) No 1152/2009

Thursday 1 April 2010

Safeguard controls on certain food products due to aflatoxin contamination under Regulation (EC) No. 1152/2009.

From 1 January 2010 a new Commission Regulation (EC) No 1152/2009 imposes special conditions governing the import of certain foodstuffs from certain non-EU countries due to contamination risk by aflatoxins, and repeals and replaces Commission Decision 2006/504/EC. These special conditions include that specified products can only enter the UK through specific ports or airports approved as designated points of import (DPIs). Consignments must be accompanied by a health certificate and results of sampling and analysis.

Information about the specified foodstuffs and country of origin can be found at Article 1 of Regulation 1152/2009. Importers/ food business operators must pre-notify DPIs at least one working day before the physical arrival of the consignment by completing Part 1 of the Common Entry Document (CED) which can be found at Annex II of Commission Regulation (EC) 669/2009, as amended by Commission Regulation (EU) 878/2010. Guidance on completing the CED can be found in Annex II of Regulation 1152/2009. Fees will be payable to the relevant authority where these controls apply and will not be higher than the costs incurred by the authority. The European Commission has recently published guidance on compliance with EU Legislation on aflatoxin.

Article 6 of Regulation 1152/2009 requires Member States to maintain and make publicly available an up-to-date list of the Designated Points of Import (DPIs) for each of the specified products listed in Article I of the Regulation 1152/2009. The list of DPIs can be found below. This list gives the name of the port/airport and the DPI unit number.