Historial: 1MEMO0495en

The “hygiene package” of 5 laws just recently adopted by the EU aims to
merge, harmonise and simplify very detailed and complex hygiene
requirements currently scattered over seventeen EU Directives. The overall
aim is to create a single, transparent hygiene policy applicable to all food and
all food operators, together with effective instruments to manage food safety
and potential future food crises, throughout the food chain. The new hygiene
law will be applicable as of 1 January 2006.

__General rules__

__Which products are covered by the hygiene rules?__

General hygiene rules are laid down for the production of all food, while specific rules are laid down for meat and meat products, bivalve molluscs, fishery products, milk and dairy products, eggs and egg products, frogs’ legs and snails, animal fats and greaves, gelatine and collagen.

What are the HACCP principles?

The hygiene package introduces HACCP principles in all sectors of the food business except for the primary sector (farms). HACCP stands for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points and consists of seven principles:
*hazard analysis to identify potential food safety risks (hazards),
*the identification of critical control points to prevent such hazards,
*the establishment of critical limits,
*monitoring of the critical control points,
*corrective actions if something goes wrong,
*verification to assess whether monitoring occurs correctly, corrective actions are taken in time and effectively, etc.
*documentation.

For example, two important critical control points in slaughterhouses are the prevention of faecal contamination of carcasses and ensuring the correct temperature of carcasses during storage. Such critical control points must be identified and monitored by the slaughterhouse operator. HACCP is a vital system to guarantee proper hygiene conditions.

__Do farm operators need to introduce HACCP?__

Although farmers should be encouraged to apply the HACCP principles as far as possible, there is no formal obligation for them to implement the HACCP system. Instead, the farming sector may develop guides to good practice, which specify the obligations for the operators in that sector with regard to food hygiene.

These obligations may include, for example, rules on hygiene, the quality of animal feed, animal welfare standards, pest control and records on animal health.

__Who has the primary responsibility for hygiene and how is this verified? __

The food establishment operator has the primary responsibility to ensure that hygiene rules are respected, while the competent authority (government) verifies the situation by regular inspections. All food business operators need to be registered. Some businesses, such as slaughterhouses and cutting plants, need approval before they can operate. Requirements for the construction and installation of slaughterhouses and cutting plants are less detailed than in previous legislation, but they increase the responsibility of the food business operator who must ensure, for example, the welfare of live animals, humane killing procedures, hygienic working conditions, the prevention of cross-contamination and a safe end product. The competent authority in each EU Member State has to verify that the rules are correctly implemented, for example by checking that production occurs according to the hygiene rules and that the end-product is not contaminated, is stored properly and is safe for human consumption.

__Who will develop the guides to good practice?__

The legislation foresees the development of guides to good practice. In general, usually bodies such as Product Boards will develop guides to good practice, possibly together with operators from the sector concerned, consumer groups and competent authorities in the Member States. In some cases, guides to good practice may be established at EU level, if necessary. This will be done by or in consultation with representatives of European food business sectors and other interested parties such as consumer groups and in co-operation with the competent authorities. The Standing Committee of the Food Chain and Animal Health, consisting of representatives of the Member States and the European Commission, shall assess the draft guides.

__How is traceability and marking guaranteed?__

According to the hygiene rules, all meat shall be marked with a health mark. All food products shall have an identification mark. Both marks will allow for traceability. Furthermore, animals delivered to a slaughterhouse need to be preceded (in exceptional cases accompanied) by food chain information, which contains for example details of animal identification, animal health and medical treatments.

__How do the hygiene rules affect imports of food of animal origin?__

Imported products of animal origin have to live up to the strict EU food safety standards, including the hygiene rules. The import of such products is therefore only allowed from countries and establishments that appear on a Community list managed by the European Commission on behalf of the EU Member States.

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