Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-05-Speech-4-039"
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"en.20030605.2.4-039"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to begin by thanking those who did such an excellent job of helping me with this report – Members in the political groups, the Commission and the Council.
I am convinced that the new approach will, in any case, lead to an improvement in food safety in the EU. I am grateful for the cooperation I have enjoyed, and I thank all of you for your attention.
I was pleased to hear the remarks of the Commissioner as well, because they seem to go in the same direction that we wish to take. The proposal for a regulation is an integral and important part of the overall endeavour to improve food safety within the EU, product quality in third countries exporting to the EU and to establish European food legislation.
Its primary aim is to achieve better protection for consumers in relation to food products of animal origin for human consumption, and, as the Commissioner mentioned, the official veterinarian is at the heart of the system of official controls. I think that he has the right technical qualifications and this approach is therefore to be welcomed. The very detailed demands made on official veterinarians will have to lead to changes in study courses in the Member States. They are also necessary to ensure that scientific knowledge can be transposed into practice.
We should however be careful that official veterinarians, who have been carrying out their responsibilities conscientiously for many years, do not have to take more exams as a result of this proposal for a regulation. The veterinarians are assisted by official auxiliaries in carrying out their inspections. For this to work successfully, it is important that both groups of people can work independently.
Monitoring bodies that are in some way dependent on the business that is being monitored cannot, with the best will in the world, take an independent decision. This is why I am firmly rejecting the idea that the establishment’s own staff can be used or deployed in inspecting the slaughter of pigs and bovine animals in place of official monitors. Ladies and gentlemen of the Commission, you have plainly been guided by financial constraints on this point. We have set out to increase food safety in the EU and with these measures you are going to achieve exactly the opposite, which is why we have to reject them. We should remember that only precise independent findings through official controls focus more on the new concept of national, and ultimately European, risk analysis and are a key element in risk management. This is also the basis upon which the effectiveness of the European Food Safety Authority depends.
The situation is different with the mandatory application of food business operators’ own controls as an element of strengthening their individual responsibility for the wholesomeness and high quality of their products. It should therefore be possible, where there is a reduced risk and own controls are taking place, to restrict official controls to checks on the findings of these own controls. This should be a free decision for the competent authority to take and not compulsory. A risk-based flexible approach in official controls, based on the wholesomeness of the business’s products, should always be the most important factor. This is much better than an approach based on the intensity of production and also serves to strengthen the position of the competent authority.
Things are again different when traditional production methods are used on farms with lower production and in outlying geographical areas. Here, the possibility of implementing the regulation is often restricted. Exceptions to the rules should, however, be limited to flexibility in the attendance of an official inspector and the forwarding of information. A reduction in hygiene levels cannot be accepted under any circumstances. The concept of 'from stable to table' is an important basis for a high level of food safety. The effectiveness of the system is dependent upon the quality of information going from the farmer to the shop, but – and I would like particularly to draw your attention to this – also back to the farmer. This is essentially a new approach, one that requires constant emphasis. The information should, however, be limited to criteria that are important for inspection of the slaughter and food safety.
Information about medical treatment which does not have food safety implications, for example the administering of iron tablets to piglets, does not have to be provided, reducing the amount of information involved. I think that the greater inclusion of scientific competence in the food production process guarantees that the necessary information is submitted, which may well turn out to be different in each case.
A contentious issue in the EU until now has always been the number of staff for inspections, particularly in slaughterhouses. I think that we should ask the Commission to make an objective proposal here along the lines of regions and farms. I know that it is very difficult, but it cannot be avoided."@en1
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