Commission Working Group on food hygiene legislation: 9 June 2008

Some progress on amendments to guidance documents on Regulation (EC) 852/2004 and Regulation (EC) 853/2004.

Discussions on draft Commission regulations: rules on the use of clean sea water, fish oils and use of plant staff for official controls were finalised.

Discussion on need to prolong transitional arrangements before new comitology procedures come into force.

Commission to hold a two-day meeting w/c 8 September 2008 to 'fill gaps' for the May 2009 report on the progress of the hygiene legislation.

No firm conclusions on 'double labelling' of 'best before' dates, but Commission is likely to take action.

The Commission concluded the discussion on the draft proposals by saying they would go to the next SCoFCAH, with a view to a vote in July.

Copies of the relevant documents can be found in the collated document at the link below.

Commission to amend part 3.7 to make clear that the centrifuging of honey by producers was primary production, but at collection centres, it was not.

In part 9.3 on bulk transport, the Commission proposed that granular products should be defined as products that had gone through a process and would add something to the effect that bulk means any container not for sale to the final consumer.

Discussion on cross border trade of small amounts, where national rules differed (e.g. for wild boar, where one Member State (MS) might require testing for Trichinella and another might not.) The Commission explained that the basic rule was that there should be free trade, unless there were public health concerns.

The Commission added that it would try to draft something for the next meeting on trade between retailers across borders.

Many MSs still thought the guidance needed more clarity and examples on ‘composite’ products. The Commission was firm that all had previously agreed that yoghurt containing fruit was a dairy product not a composite product. A request was made that the guidance give a clear explanation (i.e. the fruit was considered to be a flavouring rather than a substantial component) and if that was the case was there any limit on content? Request by MS that the guidance should make clear that Article 1.2 of Regulation 853/2004 (i.e. that 853/2004 does not apply to ‘composites’ unless it is indicated otherwise) applies where vegetable fat had replaced all or part of dairy fat. The Commission said it would make changes and add more examples and come back with a new version.

The Commission also confirmed the following points:

• it was for Competent Authorities to decide what health mark should be used at mobile slaughterhouses they had for sheep and goats
• national rules were available for raw ass’s milk (regarding 5.12 of the guidance)
• it would consider a MS request to use multiple ID marks on retail packaging (to increase clarity on which was the mark of origin) although not initially keen to do so
• it would clarify the apparent contradiction in parts 3.2 and 3.7 that for fish, primary production included transport from the vessel to processing premises, but that factory vessels were not primary production

Draft Commission Regulations SANCO/42/2008, SANCO/43/2008, SANCO/44/2008 amend certain annexes to the hygiene regulations and Draft Commission Regulations SANCO/1729/2008 and SANCO/1730/2008 refer to TVB-N Limits and Fish Oil.

The clean water changes found acceptance subject to minor changes. In view of the change in Annexe II of 43/2008 from 'all purposes including washing' to 'handling and washing'. The Commission said that 'handling' could be interpreted very widely, but excluded use of water as an ingredient. The Commission agreed for 'and procedures' to be added after 'facilities' in the Annexe to SANCO/42/2008 so that it was clear that water testing should be carried out.

Amendments to the fish oil proposals were suggested which would clarify that chilling need not take place if processing was carried out within 36 hours; also a reference should be made to freshness and the use of whole fish. The Commission agreed and said it would make the changes discussed.

The Commission said it would make a cosmetic change to SANCO/1729/2008 to allow for Competent Authorities in third countries to apply national limits. SANCO/2076/2008 added six months to the transitional period for imports from third countries.

On the remaining issues in the documents, Annexe I of SANCO/43/2008 was accepted with a promise by the Commission to discuss further concerns on ID marking separately in the autumn. MS suggestion that Annexe II should refer to processed milk rather than heat treated milk, but the Commission wanted to retain the text and explained that ‘heat treated’ meant any heat treatment.

The Commission said it had discussed plant staff training with the European Parliament Rapporteur, Herr Schnelhardt and he was content for references to participating premises having international certification to be removed.

The Commission concluded the discussion on these draft proposals by saying they would go to the next SCoFCAH, with a view to a vote in July.

The Commission explained that the purpose of this proposed Regulation was to get agreement on prolonging the transitional measures included before the new comitology arrangements came into place - this would allow time for the issues to be fully resolved and new legislation to be in place by the end of 2012. It explained that the intention was to move mince labelling requirements out of hygiene rules to labelling legislation. The Commission said it would discuss problems (the issue of the transitional rules around imports of composite products were causing problems) further in September and asked MS to outline any problems (and any suggested solutions) in writing prior to those discussions.

The issue was whether MS allowed Food Business Operators to indicate two different dates of minimum durability (i.e. 'best before'), in order for flexible subsequent use of meat as chilled or frozen. Feedback from some MS with differing practices reported.

The Commission concluded that the issue needed to be addressed, not least to ensure parity in MS and would seek the opinion of the Commission’s Legal Services.