Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Council Minutes, 7 December 2017
The following is an extract from the minutes of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting on the 7 December 2017.
The Council did not oppose the adoption of two Commission regulations amending regulation No 882/2004 as regards the EU reference laboratory for:
Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 lays down the general tasks, duties and requirements for EU reference laboratories for food and feed and for animal health. It also includes the list of these laboratories in part I of annex VII.
The designation of the EU reference laboratories for monitoring the viral and bacteriological contamination of bivalve molluscs and for TSEs, located in the United Kingdom, will be discontinued on 31 December 2018 as a consequence of the United Kingdom notification in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.
As of then the EU reference laboratories for the analysis and testing of zoonoses (salmonella), the EU reference laboratory for Escherichia coli, including Verotoxigenic E. coli (VTEC) and the EU reference laboratory for foodborne viruses, will take over the activities carried out so far by the EU reference laboratory for monitoring the viral and bacteriological contamination of bivalve molluscs as regards the analytical tests for salmonella, E. coli and viruses respectively.
The EU reference laboratory for the monitoring of marine biotoxins shall take over the activities related to the classification and monitoring of production areas for bivalve molluscs.
The new EU reference laboratory for TSEs is a consortium between the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Piemonte Liguria e Valle d'Aosta (IZSPLVA) and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS).
