Overview of the FOOD AND VETERINARY OFFICE

Activities of relevance to the European Meat Industry

CLITRAVI AGA8 May 2008

Sabine Jülicher, FVO

Overview of presentation Overview over the FVO

History and context Structure Functions

Inspection Programme Outcome of Inspections

Member StatesThird Countries

History and context

1979 : Commission inspections organised in DG AGRI (veterinary and phytosanitary matters) and DG ENTR (general food hygiene)

1996 : BSE crisis1997 : Commission response: a new

Food Safety Policy April 1997: FVO established (September

1997 in Ireland)April 2002 : Grange, Co Meath, Ireland

History and context

Our StructureDirector General

Robert Madelin

Deputy Director Generalwith special responsibility for Directorates D, E, F and Scientific

Matters

P. Testori Coggi

BConsumer Affairs

CPublic Health &

Risk Assessment

DAnimal Health &

Welfare

ESafety of the Food Chain

FFood &

Veterinary Office

Principal Adivser

with special responsibility for C3, C6

and C7

01Audit and evaluation

02Strategy and analysis

03Science & Stakeholder

relations

04Veterinary control

programmes

Principal Adviser

AGeneral Affairs

Co-ordination& institutional relations

Legal affairs

Financial resourcesand controls

Information: systems

and publications

Human resources

AdministrativeAffairsGrange

Policy analysis &development;relations

withconsumer organisations;&

international relations

Unfair commercial practices

and other consumer protectionlegislation

Product and servicesafety

Protection of legal,economic and other

consumerinterests

Enforcement andconsumer redress

Programme management

Health Information

Health threats

Health determinants

Health strategy

Health measures

Risk assessment

Animal Health and Standing Committees

Animal Welfareand Feed

International questions

(multilateral)

International questions(bilateral)

Country profiles,coordination of follow-up

Food of animal origin:mammals

Food of animal origin:birds and fish

Food of plant origin,plant health; processing &

distribution

Animal nutritionimport controls,

residues

Quality, planningand development

Biotechnologyand Plant health

Hygiene & Controlmeasures

Chemicals, contaminants,

pesticides

Food Law, nutritionand labelling

A1

A2

A3

A4

A5

A6

B1

B2

B3

B4

B5

C1

C2

C3

C4

C5

C6

C7

D1

D2

D3

D4

E1

E2

E3

E4

F1

F2

F3

F4

F5

F6

01/12/2007

Structure FVO7 FVO Units

5 inspection Units (F2-F6)

-Food of animal origin: Mammals-Food of animal origin: Birds/Fish-Food of non-animal origin & plant health-Horizontal: Feed (TSEs), Residues, Import Controls-Animal health and Animal Welfare

2 non-inspection Units (F1&F7)- Follow-up, Country Profiles- Quality, Planning, Development

FVO - general information

Staff 175 about 90 inspectors

Inspectors’ qualifications Veterinarians Agronomists Other qualifications

Key functions of the FVOAssess performance of national competent authorities in ensuring and enforcing compliance with EU requirements

Carry out ON-THE-SPOT inspections

Report on findings to Commission Services, Member States, European Parliament, Council, and other stakeholders via internet publication

Make recommendations to Competent Authorities

Follow-up with Competent Authorities

Key Functions - InspectionsDifferent types of FVO

Audit/inspections

Sectoral Audits/inspections: Assessment of performance of national competent authorities in ensuring and enforcing compliance with EU requirements, including on-the-spot verifications, in a particular area Assessment & monitoring missions: Missions in candidate countries to assess initial state of play and subsequent progress with the implementation of the EU acquis up to accession Fact-finding missions: missions carried out for the purposes of policy formulation or review, eg. Guidelines of national audit systems

Key Functions - Inspections (cont.)

General review missions: missions to review Competent Authority progress with follow-up of FVO recommendations at a « horizontal » Member State level

On-the-spot inspections: to verify compliance in individual premises/sites, eg. approval of Border Inspection Posts

Key Functions (cont.)

Reporting on the Results

Publication of final reports

http://ec.europa.eu/food/fvo/index_en.htm

Follow up on corrective action

Key Functions other than inspection

Development of Country Profiles

Desk-verifications (e. g. Third Country residue plans, Member States pesticide reports)

Development of guidelines for Member States (e.g. on official controls)

Inspection Programme

Programmes published:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fvo/inspectprog/index_en.htm

Inspection Programme 2007

Geographical breakdown

153

10

20

89

272

159

8

12

73

252

0 50 100 150 200 250 300

EU-27

EFTA countries

Candidate countries

Other third countries

Total

No of Inspections

No. of inspections ("Is")

No. of inspections (planned,incl. provisional)

*

*

15

SANCO Inspection Programme 2007

Missions _ coverage of area (%)

69%

11%

7%

7%

6%

Food safety

Animal health

Animal welfare

Plant health

General review

2007 Member States - MeatBulgaria (2)Finland Germany Greece Hungary Malta Italy

Poland Portugal Romania (2)Spain Sweden United Kingdom TOTAL 15

2008 Member States - MeatBulgaria BelgiumCyprusCzech Republic FranceGermany Greece Hungary

Latvia Lithuania ItalyPoland Romania Spain

TOTAL 14

2007 Third Country Inspections2007 TC inspections by subject

BSE or feedstuffs

FP a/o LBM a/o AC

gen. review

GMOs

import controlspesticides o contaminants o

fcm

Plant health

Poultry meat

red meat a/o milk (AH, game meat)

residues

2007/2008 Third Countries - Meat

2007 2008

Argentina 2 1

Australia 1 1

Botswana 1 1

Brazil 2 2

Canada 1

Chile 1

China 1

2007/2008 Third Countries - Meat2007 2008

Iceland 1

Israel 1

Namibia 1

New Zealand 1 1

Paraguay 1 1

Russian Federation 1

Serbia 1

2007/2008 Third Countries - Meat2007 2008

South Africa 1

Swaziland 1 1

Switzerland 1

United States 1

Uruguay 1 1

Total 15 15

Outcome of inspections

Member StatesThird Countries

Outcome of inspections - MSFood Business Operators Compliance

HACCP proceduresRegulation (EC) No 2073/2004 (microbiological criteria)TraceabilityEstablishments with derogation till end of 2009 (National Market)

Outcome of inspections - MSOfficial control systems

Overall improvementsPoor control systems – threat for the entire industry

Exports e.g. to the Russian FederationFood scandals (e.g. Gammelfleisch)

Still weak MS (5) with slow progressRomania and Bulgaria not yet includedFour ‚old‘ and one ‚new‘ MS

Outcome of inspections - TC

Relation with most TC established for a long time (e.g. NZ, some South American Countries)

Few surprisesUsually good response to FVO recommendations

Not many requests for new TC listings meat

Outcome of inspections - TC

ChallengesResidue controls not in line with EU requirements Disease outbreaks (e.g. Avian Influenza, Foot and Mouth Disease)Control systems deterioratePoor response to recommendations

Outcome of inspections Brazil beef

Regular FVO inspectionsCertain deficiencies (e.g. residue controls) addressed by Brazilian authoritiesOther deficiencies (holding registration, animal identification, movement control) commitments not respectedFVO mission November 2007Commission Decision 2008/61/ECFVO mission February/March 2008 Currently 95 eligible holdings listed

Questions?

Thank you for your attention!