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I am pleased to accept your invitation to address your Committee this afternoon and to answer your questions.
In November last year, I had the opportunity to outline for you the initiatives the Commission had taken, and those the Commission was in the process of formulating, in four areas of direct concern to the fisheries sector in the field of public health and food safety, namely on Listeria, Amnesic Shellfish poisoning (ASP), Hygiene and Dioxins.
With regard to dioxins I indicated at the time that I would be happy to come back at a later stage to inform you in detail on the measures I propose in order to ensure food and feed safety.
In my White Paper on Food Safety, the Commission identified the need to define standards for contaminants throughout the chain from feed to food.
Meeting in Feira in June last year, the European Council also asked the Commission to propose harmonised rules on contaminants, in particular on dioxins.
Moreover, at its plenary session on 4 October 2000, the European Parliament called upon the Commission to set maximum limits for dioxins and PCBs in all feedingstuffs.
The scientific basis for setting such limits has been sought by the Commission as a matter of priority. In this regard, the Scientific Committee for Food and the Scientific Committee for Animal Nutrition were asked to assess the risks for public health arising from the presence of dioxins and PCBs in food and feed. The opinions were adopted in November last year. As new scientific information on the toxicity of dioxins has been published since then, the Scientific Committee for Food updated its opinion on 30 May 2001.
The Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) has recommended a Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) of 14 picograms per kilogram of bodyweight per week. This figure is in line with the provisional Tolerable Monthly Intake of 70 pg/kg bodyweight/month established by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) at its latest meeting held at the beginning of June 2001. Comparing like with like, The SCF recommended a maximum intake of 2 per day, whereas JECFA recommended 2.3 per day.
The Scientific Committee for Food concluded that the average human intake of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in the European countries has been estimated to be 1.2 to 3.0 pg/kg bodyweight/day.
This means that a considerable proportion of the European population would still exceed what is considered to be tolerable from a toxicological point of view.
The Scientific Committee states that this does not necessarily mean that there is an appreciable risk to the health of individuals, because the tolerable weekly intake includes a safety factor. However, exceeding this intake leads to erosion of the protection embedded in the safety factor.
Human exposure occurs mainly through food (>90 %). Food of animal origin normally contributes about 80 % to the overall exposure. Dioxins in food of animal origin derive from feed. The contamination of feedingstuffs and foodstuffs can be the result of environmental contamination.
The Scientific Committees therefore recommended that continuous efforts should be made through
In determining the legislative measures, the most important objective for the Commission is the protection of public health by reducing human exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs.
The socio-economic impact has also been taken into account, but it must be clear that this cannot have precedence over the necessary levels of human health protection based on the scientific advice we have received.
Measures to limit or to eliminate the emission of dioxins into the environment through source-directed measures are of major importance to reduce the overall contamination by dioxins.
These measures will be addressed in a Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the Economic and Social Committee on a Community strategy for Dioxins and PCBs. This Communication is currently being actively worked on by my services and those of Environment Commissioner Margot Wallstrom. I anticipate that it will be ready for publication later this year.
The strategy will focus on two aspects:
While this strategy will address the more longer term means of reducing dioxin exposure in the environment in the environment and in food, we must take measures now to deal with the shorter term problem.
In short I am in the process of establishing protective measures at the level of the food and feed chain to limit the presence of dioxins in food and feed with a view to protecting public health.
These legislative measures concerning feedingstuffs and foodstuffs consist of three pillars:
The establishment of a maximum levels in food and feed, taking into account the current background contamination, is a necessary tool for management and to ensure uniform application across the EU.
In order to ensure that all operators in the food and feed chain continue to make efforts and to take all the necessary measures to reduce the presence of dioxins in feed and food, a revision clause is foreseen with the aim to set lower levels by the year 2006.
As a complement, the action levels are designed to trigger a proactive approach from competent authorities and operators to identify sources and pathways of contamination and to take measures to eliminate them.
Indeed, permanent monitoring of the presence of dioxins and PCBs in feed and food across the EU is necessary. In case of an abnormal increase in the level of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs, sources and/or pathways of contamination have to be identified. Once identified, measures to prevent or reduce contamination from such sources should be determined and implemented. That is why we are proposing to set action levels.
The third pillar of my proposals concerns the future establishment of target levels. These would be the levels to be achieved in order to bring the exposure of the large majority of the European population below the Tolerable Weekly Intake recommended by the Scientific Committee for Food.
Target levels will act as the driving force for measures which are necessary to further reduce emissions into the environment.
With increasing decline of emissions, the distribution of the contamination levels for the different food groups will shift towards lower levels and will (slowly) come closer to the target levels. However, for the time being it is difficult to foresee accurately the impact of environmental measures on the levels in the different feed materials and in the different foodstuffs of animal origin. Accordingly, no numerical target levels can yet be set with reasonable scientific certainty.
I am, therefore, proposing maximum levels and action levels for all feed materials, feedingstuffs and foodstuffs of animal origin, with only some minor exceptions. These legal measures will, on adoption, require efforts of all operators acting in the feed and food chain.
For the fish sector, the following maximum levels for dioxins are being considered:
These limits are under active discussion with the Member States at present and I am pushing for their adoption at the earliest possible date.
Action has to be taken concerning fish from those areas in Europe where levels of contamination are high. This fish cannot continue to enter the food chain as it does at present. This means that the industry concerned will have to adapt and all options for assisting it to do so need rapid examination. Possibilities for purifying the products exist. These are already at an advanced stage in one Member State. These possibilities need to be fully explored by operators and Member States since they would also bring environmental benefits: dioxin would be removed through filtration, concentrated and then destroyed.
As I have already said, the proposed measures will require efforts from the sector, but we must bear in mind that this matter is very important for public health and food safety. I am convinced that the members of your Committee also place public health and food safety at the top of their agenda.
The proposed measures will ensure that fish and fishery products are as safe as possible. They will contribute to maintaining and even improving the confidence of consumers in the safety of fish and fishery products. This is the best way to ensure that consumers continue to benefit from the indisputable positive health effects derived from consumption of fish as part of a varied diet that is generally recommended.
Thank you, Chairman, and I look forward to questions and an exchange of views.