Overview of the FOOD AND VETERINARY OFFICE Activities of relevance to the European Meat Industry CLITRAVI AGA 8 May 2008 Sabine Jülicher, FVO

Overview of presentation Overview over the FVO History and context Structure Functions Inspection Programme Outcome of Inspections Member States Third Countries

History and context 1979 : Commission inspections organised in DG AGRI (veterinary and phytosanitary matters) and DG ENTR (general food hygiene) 1996 : BSE crisis 1997 : Commission response: a new Food Safety Policy April 1997: FVO established (September 1997 in Ireland) April 2002 : Grange, Co Meath, Ireland

History and context

Deputy Director General Our Structure Director General Robert Madelin 01 Audit and evaluation Principal Adviser 03 Science & Stakeholder relations 02 Strategy and analysis Deputy Director General with special responsibility for Directorates D, E, F and Scientific Matters P. Testori Coggi 04 Veterinary control programmes A General Affairs B Consumer Affairs C Public Health & Risk Assessment Principal Adivser with special responsibility for C3, C6 and C7 D Animal Health & Welfare E Safety of the Food Chain F Food & Veterinary Office A1 Co-ordination & institutional relations B1 Policy analysis & development;relations with consumer organisations;& international relations C1 Programme management Animal Health and Standing Committees D1 Biotechnology and Plant health E1 Country profiles, coordination of follow-up F1 C2 Health Information A2 Legal affairs B2 Unfair commercial practices and other consumer protection legislation Animal Welfare and Feed D2 E2 Hygiene & Control measures Food of animal origin: mammals F2 C3 Health threats A3 Financial resources and controls Food of animal origin: birds and fish F3 B3 Product and service safety International questions (multilateral) D3 E3 Chemicals, contaminants, pesticides C4 Health determinants Information: systems and publications A4 Food of plant origin,plant health; processing & distribution F4 B4 Protection of legal, economic and other consumer interests International questions (bilateral) D4 E4 Food Law, nutrition and labelling Health strategy C5 Human resources A5 Animal nutrition import controls, residues F5 B5 Enforcement and consumer redress C6 Health measures A6 Administrative Affairs Grange Quality, planning and development F6 Risk assessment C7 01/12/2007

Structure FVO 7 FVO Units -Food of animal origin: Mammals 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 FVO Assess 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 - Inspections Different 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 * *

SANCO Inspection Programme 2007 15

2007 Member States - Meat Bulgaria (2) Finland Germany Greece Hungary Malta Italy Poland Portugal Romania (2) Spain Sweden United Kingdom TOTAL 15

2008 Member States - Meat Bulgaria Belgium Cyprus Czech Republic France Germany Greece Hungary Latvia Lithuania Italy Poland Romania Spain TOTAL 14

2007 Third Country Inspections

2007/2008 Third Countries - Meat Argentina 2 1 Australia Botswana Brazil Canada Chile China

2007/2008 Third Countries - Meat Iceland 1 Israel Namibia New Zealand Paraguay Russian Federation Serbia

2007/2008 Third Countries - Meat South Africa 1 Swaziland Switzerland United States Uruguay Total 15

Outcome of inspections Member States Third Countries

Outcome of inspections - MS Food Business Operators Compliance HACCP procedures Regulation (EC) No 2073/2004 (microbiological criteria) Traceability Establishments with derogation till end of 2009 (National Market)

Outcome of inspections - MS Official control systems Overall improvements Poor control systems – threat for the entire industry Exports e.g. to the Russian Federation Food scandals (e.g. Gammelfleisch) Still weak MS (5) with slow progress Romania and Bulgaria not yet included Four ‚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 surprises Usually good response to FVO recommendations Not many requests for new TC listings meat

Outcome of inspections - TC Challenges Residue controls not in line with EU requirements Disease outbreaks (e.g. Avian Influenza, Foot and Mouth Disease) Control systems deteriorate Poor response to recommendations

Outcome of inspections Brazil beef Regular FVO inspections Certain deficiencies (e.g. residue controls) addressed by Brazilian authorities Other deficiencies (holding registration, animal identification, movement control) commitments not respected FVO mission November 2007 Commission Decision 2008/61/EC FVO mission February/March 2008 Currently 95 eligible holdings listed

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