The CIAA is currently holding a seminar which aims to bring representatives from both Central and Eastern Europe together in an effort to forge a cohesive plan for an EU safety programme which will match up to future enlargement.
The meeting, which started on Monday and ends on Saturday 11, October, will include about 30 industry and governmental experts from Central and Eastern European candidate countries who will all participate in the seminar on food safety hosted by the Confederation of the food and drink industries of the EU .
This seminar is organised in the context of the Business Support Programme (BSP) carried out by the CIAA with the support of the EU Phare programme. The CIAA says that the aim of the project is to contribute to an effective implementation of EU food safety standards on the ground and to raise awareness of EU acquis in CEEC. The move marks the first of a series of actions to be undertaken at a European and local level.<
Sessions on the cards at the seminar will be devoted to the various aspects of food safety, such as auto-control systems and methodologies to ensure food safety, implementation of HACCP, Good Manufacturing Practices, certification, audits and crisis management.
From 1 May 2004 all products commercialised throughout the enlarged EU or exported to third countries will have to conform with EU food law requirements. Now that most of the EU food regulations have been transposed into national laws, CEEC industries have to apply them and the national authorities will have to control their effective implementation.
One of the main challenges for Central and European countries wanting to join the present 15 member states of the EU is to bring their industries up to the safety standards that already exist. Presently food and drink manufacturers in countries such as Turkey, Romania, Czech Republic and Hungary are attempting to improve food safety standards in an effort to enable them to penetrate the lucrative Western European market.