Foodlaw-Reading Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
..... ..... ..... ..... ..... .....

Food Law News - EU - 2017

Council Minutes, 25 September 2017

HYGIENE - Controls on fishery products: Council discussions

The following is an extract from the minutes of the General Affairs Council Meeting held on the 25 September 2017:

The Council decided not to oppose the adoption of two Commission regulations amending regulation 2074/2005 as regards:

• official controls on fishery products caught by vessels flying the flag of a Member State and introduced into Union after being transferred in third countries (11435/17 + ADD 1) and establishing a model health certificate for those products, and
• paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) detection method (11471/17).

Regulation 2074/2005 sets out specific rules for the implementation of regulations 853/2004 and 854/2004 on the hygiene of food of animal origin for food business operators and official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption. In particular it sets out model health certificates and documents for imports of certain products of animal origin.

The new Commission regulations establish a harmonised model of health certificate to be signed by the competent authority in the third country through which the fishery products are transferred, before they are dispatched to the Union. They also modify the detection method of the paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) by introducing the so-called Lawrence method as reference method for the detection of the PSP toxin, thereby adapting the current EU methods to international standards.