EC strengthens aflatoxin controls
Thursday 14 September 2006
The European Commission has expanded and reinforced the border-control measures it has taken to protect consumers from aflatoxin contaminated products. The new measures will come into force on 1 October 2006.
Aflatoxins are formed by certain moulds on foodstuffs, particularly peanuts and edible nuts and products made from them. The moulds need warm, humid conditions to grow and are therefore mainly found in imports from hot countries.
Aflatoxins have been shown to cause cancer in animals. Expert scientific opinion is that the presence of aflatoxins in food should be kept as low as reasonably achievable.
UK consumers are already protected by existing legislation, which controls the maximum levels of aflatoxins permissible in peanuts, edible nuts and dried fruit. The new measures expand and reinforce the measures already in place.
Background
Over recent years, the European Commission has adopted a number of Decisions imposing special conditions on the import, into the EU, of certain foodstuffs from specific countries due to the possible risk of contamination by aflatoxins.
These foodstuffs are: peanuts and peanut products from China and Egypt, pistachios and pistachio products from Iran, dried figs, hazelnuts, pistachios and their products from Turkey and unshelled Brazil nuts from Brazil.
Many of the special conditions for import covered by these Decisions are the same. Therefore, in the interest of clarity and harmonisation, the special conditions for the import of these foodstuffs have been consolidated into a single Decision.
The conditions imposed by the new consolidated EC Decision are:
- consignments of commodities covered by the Decision can only be imported into the EU through specific points and these are now considered to be designated points of import and not as previously designated points of entry. A definition of designated points of import is included in the Commission Decision
- it shall apply to the foodstuffs themselves and to processed and compound foodstuffs derived from or containing the foodstuffs
- all health certificates shall be valid for import no later than 4 months from the date of issue date of the certificate
- the health certificate now has additional sections which must be completed by an enforcement authority when it carries out a documentary identity and physical checks on a consignment at the point of entry into the EU
- if a consignment is not accompanied by the health certificate and the results of sampling and analysis, the consignment may not enter the EU and must be re-dispatched to the country of origin or destroyed
- all costs resulting from official measures taken as regards non-compliant consignments of unshelled Brazil nuts from Brazil, and pistachios from Iran, are to be borne by the importer or food business operator concerned
- only 5% of consignments of hazelnuts shelled or unshelled and mixtures of nuts containing hazelnuts from Turkey are now required to be sampled and analysed. The percentage for consignments of other products from Turkey and for consignments of products from other origins to be tested remains unchanged
- food business operators must make available sufficient human resources and logistics, to unload the consignment of foodstuffs and to enable representative sampling to take place
- in the case of special transport and/or specific packaging forms, the operator/responsible food business operator must make available to the official inspector the appropriate sampling equipment, insofar as the sampling cannot be undertaken with the usual sampling equipment
All the other special conditions for import remain the same.
The Decision has been enacted into English law by a Declaration made under Regulation 33 of The Official Feed and Food Controls (England) Regulations 2006 (S.I. 2006/15). Parallel legislation will be made in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
A Statutory Instrument revoking the current English Emergency Control Regulations implementing Commission Decisions 2000/49/EC, 2002/79/EC, 2002/80/EC, 2003/493/EC and 2005/85/EC will come into force on 1 October 2006.
Further information from:
Bryan Jones,
Food Standards Agency, Room 707C, Aviation House,
125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH.
tel: 020 7276 8720; fax: 020 7276 8717;
email: bryan.jones@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
Stakeholders in Scotland should contact:
Fiona Bruce, Contaminants, Hygiene, Additives & Shellfish Branch,
Food Standards Agency Scotland, 6th Floor, St Magnus House, 25 Guild Street, Aberdeen, AB11 6NJ
email: fiona.bruce@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk
The Commission Decision, 2006/504/EC [Official Journal of the European Union, L199, 21.7.2006, p. 21-32], applies from 1 October 2006, attached below.