Implications of the new food hygiene regulations on shellfish monitoring
Tuesday 6 December 2005
The new Food Hygiene Regulations came into force on 11 January 2006, and are the result of an exercise by the European Commission to consolidate and simplify food hygiene legislation across all food sectors. These new regulations alter the requirements for the monitoring of the shellfish industry in Scotland by the Food Standards Agency.
The new Regulations specify that official controls on wild scallops harvested outside classified production areas are to be carried out in fish auctions, dispatch centres and processing establishments.
Therefore:
- FSAS will not be carrying out offshore monitoring for shellfish biotoxins and will not be operating the open and closed box system
- the biotoxin summary report will continue to be issued on a weekly basis.
New headings for results
The Source of sample results have now been split into two headings:
- Classified Area (Inshore)
- Commercial Processors – Samples that have been taken from a commercial processor by the local authority