Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-06-11-Speech-2-203"
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"en.20020611.11.2-203"2
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". – Mr President, I am sorry if I misunderstood the procedure. I understood I should make a statement in relation to the consumer protection issue, answer questions on that and then move on to this issue. However, I am of course happy to do it this way.
A further meeting of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain today took note of the assurances from the German authorities and agreed that there is no need to take additional measures for the moment.
The overall situation obviously remains under close watch. The standing committee will meet again on Friday to review developments. In particular it will want to learn of the progress in tracing the estimated 6% of contaminated produce which remains to be fully traced.
While there is considerable concern in all Member States, especially with the still fresh memories of recent food safety crises, only Belgium has announced national restrictions. This may be a legacy of the dioxin crisis which has understandably left deep scars in Belgium. I expect, nonetheless, that the clarifications provided in the standing committee this week will prove sufficient to lift these restrictions.
We must be careful also to focus on the broader picture. These recent events confirmed for me that our new approach to food safety is going in the right direction. In particular, the necessity for food traceability from farm to fork and for rapid and transparent exchange of information has been confirmed. Both are critical to the identification and swift recall of contaminated products.
As always, lessons need to be learned and the Commission is looking at the following issues in particular. How did such contamination occur in the first place when nitrofen has been banned in the EU since 1988? Can we be fully confident that warehouses formerly used to store dangerous substances are safe for food storage? Could more be done to ensure that federal authorities are notified immediately of incidents of contamination, allowing them to notify the Commission and other Member States, not just in Germany but in other federal countries as well? In particular, what should be done to address the fact that the contamination was known to the laboratories and industry for months before the authorities were informed? Similarly, was the rapid alert system notified of these developments as intended?
These are issues I will now be taking up with the federal authorities in Germany. A mission of the Food and Veterinary Office will take place shortly to assist in this process. Previous FVO reports on both residue control measures and controls in the organic food sector in Germany will also be taken fully into account. I can assure you that Parliament will be kept fully informed of all these developments.
I am pleased to bring Parliament up to date on the nitrofen contamination in Germany. This is a very disturbing discovery. Nitrofen is a herbicide and has been a banned substance in the European Union since 1988. It is a probable carcinogen, with teratogenic effects. Consumers are quite rightly worried that control measures failed to prevent this contamination.
The Commission was first made aware of the contamination on 24 May. There were three immediate priorities. First, to establish from the German authorities the source and extent of the contamination; second, to trace and recall contaminated products; third, to ensure that the control authorities in the Member States were kept fully informed of developments. I am satisfied that very good progress has been made in addressing each of these priorities.
The origin of the contamination is now known. It can be traced to the storage of organic grains in a warehouse that had been used in the past to store pesticides. I am sure you will share my concern that such an elementary precaution as a thorough cleaning does not appear to have taken place before this very radical change of use was undertaken.
In addition, the contamination was discovered in industry tests in January but was not reported to the responsible authorities until May. This delay in notification has resulted in the circulation and consumption of contaminated material before the German authorities were in a position to react. Feedingstuffs from this warehouse were delivered to 90 producers of organic products through a firm that supplies to the organic sector. The German authorities have taken the necessary measures to block supplies from these producers unless and until they have been checked for the absence of nitrofen. This tracing exercise included some limited exports of poultrymeat to the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium and Austria.
The authorities are also in the process of tracing smaller quantities of organic cereals supplied directly from the warehouse to an estimated 20 other producers. Products from these companies are currently blocked. The German authorities state that full tracing will be finalised by the end of this week. This tracing exercise includes a quantity of organic wheat exported to France in January. There is also evidence of storage of conventional non-organic cereals in this warehouse between 1995 and August 2001, although not necessarily in the contaminated section. The authorities are still in the process of verifying this information.
Finally, a quantity of organic lupines was also exported to Denmark. The Danish authorities have also been notified. They have traced this product and blocked what remains on the market and the farms concerned.
The German authorities are satisfied that the origin of the contamination is confined to that particular warehouse. They point out that both organic and conventional produce have been extensively tested and no nitrofen has been found.
The Commission notes the assurances that any remaining contamination is limited and can be contained. We also note the considerable efforts to trace products and remove them from the market. Member States have been kept fully informed of this entire process."@en1
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