Report on meeting of Commission Working Group on food hygiene legislation: 14 April 2008

Further discussion of current raft of comitology amendments. General support from Member States (MS) for the continued use of clean seawater in land-based establishments. No support for Commission revision of the provisions for dairy products and the Commission will therefore reconsider. Continued support for the provisions relating to the training and use of plant staff and the Commission will consider whether it can delete the text relating to international certification.

Further discussion on the fish oil proposal. This is nearing conclusion with a reasonable chance of proposals being agreed in July.

Amendments to Commission guidance not discussed. Broader discussion of the Commission guidance planned for the next meeting.

Further discussion of the proposals in relation to frozen product of animal origin (POAO) and additional traceability requirements for POAO.

Miscellaneous:

• Further information from the Commission about the register of guides to good practice. MS will send in updating material
• Commission makes oral presentation about equivalent methods for trichinella testing. A paper will be sent to MS outlining the issues and inviting responses
• Some MS express support for the guidance material from the Central Research Laboratory (CRL) on microbiological monitoring of bivalve mollusc areas to be embodied in a Commission guidance document. Commission indicates it will convene a small group to work on the changes needed

Any Other Business: Italy indicates it wants to discuss at some time the use of mobile slaughter units and the marketing of donkey/asses’ milk.

Date of next meeting: Monday 19 May (to be confirmed).

Electronic copies of the documents concerned can be found at the link below.

Clean seawater
The elements contained in proposals SANCO/42/2008 and SANCO/43/2008 were considered together. The Commission reported that lawyers had advised that the general principles concerning water use were laid down in Regulation (EC) 852/2004 with more specific provisions contained in Regulation (EC) 853/2004.

Mixed views amongst MS, with a number accepting the use of clean water in land-based establishments, but others raising concerns about the variable quality of coastal sea water. Suggestions that if its use on land were to be permitted, it should be on the basis of a risk assessment and there should be a specific obligation on the food business operator to monitor and test water quality. The Commission undertook to reflect on the comments made and consider a specific legal requirement, together with guidance material which would clarify the requirements for water contained in the hygiene regulations.

Other elements in SANCO/43/2008
ID marking
The meeting considered the Commission revision and a MS suggestion to clarify the requirement. A number of MS felt that there needed to be greater clarity about when new marks were needed, several linking this to the risk represented by the activity undertaken on the product. The point was also made that the requirement to ID mark was not specifically linked to risk, but to actions undertaken in establishments handling POAO for which requirements were laid down in Annex III to the Regulation. Suggestion made that it might be better to put this into guidance material.

Freezing (if POAO not otherwise worked on or requiring removal of wrapping or packaging)
A broad discussion indicated little agreement about whether freezing of POAO (if not otherwise worked on or requiring removal of wrapping or packaging were required). Differing views were also taken on the need for re-packaging operations to be approved. On the latter point the Commission suggested clarification might be made to Annex II paragraph 13. The Commission will consider further for the next meeting.

Some MS doubt whether the amendment in relation to marks applied by third (non-EU) countries will work. Commission assures that this has been approved by their legal services. It will also be necessary to carry the change when eventually agreed into Regulation (EC) 854/2004 in relation to health marking.

Other issues
The linguistic changes to refer to 'food chain information' were accepted. Point 1(c) in relation to poisonous fish was accepted. MS indicate the previous text on dairy products was more acceptable - the Commission undertakes to resubmit this. No support for the view that the processing of cracked eggs should not be permitted – the Commission reports this was not what the previous legislation provided.

The proposals in relation to poisonous fish were accepted.

In relation to training of slaughterhouse staff, much discussion with several MS supporting deleting the text in square brackets relating to international certification. The Commission referred to the issues with the Parliament over this but undertook to consider further. It was agreed that the reference in line 11 to 'slaughterhouse tasks' should be to 'slaughterhouse staff'. The Commission indicates it is prepared to consider this further.

The proposal in relation to establishing an upper limit for the 10% of samples of live bivalve molluscs was accepted.

The Commission advised that subsequent to the work of the restricted working group, a number of MS and stakeholders had provided responses to earlier draft proposals resulting in two papers for discussion at this meeting:

• ‘Elements of a Draft Proposal for fish oil for human consumption’ 03/04/08 (Non-paper)
• Draft Commission Regulation (not numbered) dated 07/04/08

There had been a stakeholder proposal to extend the current transitional period, moving fish oil from third countries out of the scope of import border control (via amendment to 2007/275/EC) and deletion of references to registration of vessels. All of which have been rejected by the Commission, which is keen to maintain the proposed maximum 36 hour limit for raw material being unchilled as this is necessary for logistical reasons, however will ensure that fish which is fit for consumption is used via use of TVB-N measure.

Some MS expressed some concern about TVB-N levels being too lenient and wide support for principle that rotten fish should not be used for production of fish oil while others were broadly in favour of the proposal.

Following lengthy discussions, the Commission agreed to further refine the proposal with a view to including TVB-N of 60 with flexibility for MS to allow higher limits for certain species.

Comments will be invited on the next draft ahead of further discussion on the document on 19 May. The final version will be presented to SCoFCAH for information 23/24 May and for a vote in July.

The item on Commission guidance documents would be discussed at the next meeting.

The Commission explained the changes which had been made since the previous version. It was clarified that the proposal related to frozen food of animal origin. It had also been extended to cover instances where food was thawed, worked on and refrozen, e.g. manufacturing minced meat from carcase meat and then freezing the mince. The Commission pointed out that representatives of the meat industry had questioned why it was necessary for meat to be treated differently. A number of MS felt that information in relation to meat in carcase form or primal cuts could be made available rather than have to be borne directly on the meat.

A discussion on the issue of freezing dates when the product was thawed and refrozen led to the Commission indicating it would need to clarify these matters. A small minority of MS continue to have problems with the proposal at a fundamental level, expressing the view that this was not the way to tackle fraud. The Commission indicates it will reflect on MS proposal (attached) and consider whether elements of it can be included. It will also reflect further in relation to thawing and refreezing and will consider what (if any) issues arise in relation to fishery products.

Suggestion, supported by several MS, that in addition to the name and address of the consignor, there needed to be a requirement for the name and address of the food business of production/supply (this was in previous versions of the draft). The Commission thought this was covered in the Guidance on Regulation (EC) 178/2002 but this point disputed by MS who thought if it was not covered in that guidance, then it ought to feature in the proposal. The Commission undertook to check and reflect in a further version.

Register of guides to good practice
MS indicated they were content with the approach to the guides and referencing them on the Commission website. Further comments on the keywords were invited. It was confirmed that where a point of contact was requested it was for other industry groups to get copies of the guide, so this was not necessarily the MS competent authority contact. The Commission website had recently been updated. When MS sent in further updates or amendments, they were asked to highlight changed entries in different coloured fonts.

Equivalent methods for trichinella testing
The Commission explained that two companies had come forward with methods which might be equivalent to the method in the legislation. The Commission wanted to know what role the MS saw for themselves in evaluating such applications. It also explained the issues with the method being contained in the legislation rather than a reference to an international standard. It was agreed the Commission would produce a paper for MS setting out the issues and inviting written comments.

Microbiological monitoring of bivalve mollusc areas
The Commission sought views on how the guidance from the CRL might best be embodied. Some MS favoured the approach of Commission guidance akin to that on Regulations 852/2004 and 853/2004. The Commission indicated it would convene a restricted Group to work further on the changes which would be necessary.