Foodlaw-Reading
Dr David Jukes, The University of Reading, UK
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Commission Audit News Item, 17 August 2023
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Overview report - Official controls on the production and harvesting of live bivalve molluscs for human consumption in the European Union A copy of the report can be downloaded from the Commission Audit site (click on image). |
Bivalve molluscs (such as mussels, clams, oysters or scallops) have been common in European’s diet since ancient times. They feed by filtering microscopic algae from surrounding water. During this filtering, they can accumulate microorganisms, marine biotoxins and chemical contaminants, which can lead to illness in humans. Therefore, the EU has strict rules to reduce or mitigate this risk to consumers. These are implemented by competent authorities on production areas where bivalve molluscs are produced and harvested.
This overview report describes how competent authorities have developed comprehensive official controls and what their main challenges are to ensure the implementation of these rules.
The following is the Executive Summary from the Report:
Executive summary
This report describes the main elements of the national control systems of the production and harvesting of live bivalve molluscs for human consumption in EU Member States, as well as the main challenges that they face. The Commission has gathered information from the 15 bivalve mollusc-producing Member States, through four audits and 11 replies to a questionnaire, complementing it with other publicly available official information.
Bivalve molluscs (mussels, clams, oysters or scallops) have been common in the human diet since ancient times. They are a source of protein, rich in vitamins and essential minerals and a good source of omega-3-fatty acids. In the EU, four Member States produce more than 80% of the production (France, Spain, Italy and Greece), mostly from aquaculture. Contrary to other aquaculture production systems, bivalve molluscs are produced without any human supplied additives or medicinal products.
Bivalve molluscs feed by filtering microscopic algae from surrounding water. During this rfiltering, they can accumulate microorganisms and chemical contaminants. Under certain circumstances, some algae species produce marine biotoxins, which accumulate in the tissues of bivalve molluscs and, above certain levels, can lead to illness in humans.
To reduce or mitigate the risk bivalve molluscs can pose to consumers, controls on production areas where bivalve molluscs are produced and harvested are essential. In EU legislation, these are the responsibility of the competent authorities, who are obliged to carry out comprehensive official controls.
This report concludes that the competent authorities in all producing Member States have developed, in different degrees, a system of official controls of bivalve molluscs. In this context, most of the Member States keep up-to-date lists of classified production areas. The classification of production areas is one of the key elements in the official control of bivalve molluscs. However, it appears particularly difficult for some Member States, despite the existence of a ‘Community Guide’ on microbiological classification and monitoring of production areas.
There are major differences between Member States in the development of sanitary surveys. These surveys are decisive for demonstrating the representativeness of sampling points and frequencies.
While in many of the Member States the monitoring of production areas for microbiological quality is in line with the relevant EU requirements, in others the situation differs from the requirements to varying degrees.
Monitoring of classified production areas for biotoxins is often not in line with EU requirements, mostly as regards the frequency and type of biotoxins tested. Additionally, the monitoring of production areas for toxin-producing plankton – which is a useful tool as an early warning system for the presence of biotoxins – varies widely among Member States.
For the most part, Member States take measures when their monitoring results indicate a risk or a potential risk to health. However, weaknesses implementing appropriate monitoring sometimes reduce the timely detection of certain risks or delay the response to them.
In general, Member States follow the requirements of EU legislation for reopening production areas that were closed due to monitoring results. However, several do not consider relevant monitoring data during the review of classifications.
Finally, Member States have the means to communicate updated information to interested parties in a timely manner. However, recalling from the market bivalve molluscs that may pose a risk to consumers seems to be a problem, mostly due to the perishable nature of this product when it is placed on the market alive.
To conclude, although competent authorities in all producing Member States have developed official controls systems of bivalve molluscs, these systems do not always meet the objectives of EU legislation and, therefore, they are not always adequate to protect consumers’ health
