Review of European food hygiene regs
The move is part of a Europe-wide consultation that was written into the regulations in 2006 by the European Parliament and Council because of the innovative nature of the legislation.
EC food hygiene regs
The new regulations introduced a shift in approach to food hygiene policy, said the European Commission in is recently published report. The aim was to simplify the body of rules surrounding food hygiene and make it more coherent by separating the different disciplines of public health, animal health and official controls. Instead the rules would concentrate on objectives to be reached by food business operators (FBO) rather than maintaining very detailed requirements. The Commission said the regulations were designed to be flexible enough to adapt to the systems of individual FBOs.
The EC concluded that EU members and FBOs have so far said they are “generally satisfied” with the hygiene regulations and that they have made good progress in adjusting to them. Member states and FBOs have said the legislation requires “slight adjustments but not a fundamental overhaul”, added the report.
But the report highlights an apparent difference of perception between member states, companies and industry groups on the one hand and EU inspection teams on the other over how successful implementation of the measures has been. The former group declared application had not presented “major difficulties” for FBOs and national authorities but the EU officials flagged some persistent concerns.
“Inspections carried out by the Food and Veterinary Office since 2006 have revealed that ongoing control problems and hygienic production standards require further improvement in a number of member states,” said the Commission.
It added that food manufactures and national bodies had to improve their performance in enforcing the rules as a first step to tackling the most serious issues.
The report also concluded there was no support for extending the application of HACCP-based production procedures to primary production.
UK consultation
The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has approached around 150 stakeholders for their reaction to the report. The body has asked for opinions on whether they agree with the contents and conclusions of the report, as well as asking for suggestions to deal with the issues raised in the document.
The body added it was unclear how the Commission intends to conduct the review but asked for all comments by September 14 before the first meeting of one of three working groups set up to consider the issues. However, in considering how to address any issues, the Commission said it would try to ensure that “the benefits from the simplification achieved with this new legal framework are, as far as possible, maintained”.
The UK Food and Drink Federation told FoodProductionDaily.com that it was unable to comment at present as it was currently consulting with its members on the report.
