New Reporting Obligations for Laboratories and Food and Feed Business Operators (BAV-Infos 02/2011)
Jun 13, 2017 - Foods
New Reporting Obligations for Laboratories and Food and Feed Business Operators (BAV-Infos 02/2011)
As a consequence of the dioxin scandal, a national and federal action plan was developed in January 2011. Some aspects of this action plan will be implemented during August 2011 in the Second Act to Amend the Food and Feed Code. These also include the new reporting obligations for laboratories as well as for food and feed business operators.
New Reporting Obligations for Laboratories
According to § 44 paragraph 4a LFGB (new) of this law, the responsible person of a laboratory must inform the competent authority if, based on a conducted food or feed examination, they have reason to believe that the product would be subject to a marketing ban under Article 14 paragraph 1 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002. A marketing ban under Article 14 paragraph 1 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 applies to food that is deemed “not safe” under this regulation. Unsafe food is defined as food that is harmful to health or also unsuitable for consumption. This is the case, for example, when salmonella is detected in ready-to-eat food. Food is only objected to in cases of serious and materially verifiable deviations under Article 14 paragraph 1 of Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002. Unfortunately, the new reporting obligation contradicts higher-ranking EU law and represents a departure from the previous principle of the sole responsibility of food business operators for their products. According to Art. 17 and Art. 19 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 dated 28.01.2002, the responsibility for food clearly and solely lies with the food business operator. The reporting obligations provided therein are also exclusively directed at the food business operator. Therefore, the BAV Institute places value on an implementation of the new reporting obligations in accordance with European law, which must be consistent with higher-ranking EU law. We will therefore always consult with the client in the event of suspicion of a reportable laboratory result. We will clarify whether the suspicion is justified. There will be NO report to the authority without prior consultation with the client.
New Reporting Obligations for Food and Feed Business Operators
The new reporting obligations for food and feed business operators are recorded in § 44a LFGB (new) and concern certain substances. These are dibenzo-p-dioxins, dibenzofurans, dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and non-dioxin-like PCBs. However, under this reporting obligation, all test results for these substances must be reported by the companies. This aims to build medium- to long-term informative databases on dioxin levels in food and feed (dioxin monitoring). This new reporting obligation for food and feed business operators is, however, further specified in another regulation supplementing § 44a LFGB (new) ("Regulation on Notification and Transmission Requirements for Undesired Substances"). This regulation contains further details on how and to whom the reports must be made. It should come into force shortly after the second LFGB amendment law. More details on the reporting obligations for food and feed business operators will be provided in another issue of the "BAV Information Service" when all contents are recorded in the final version of the "Regulation on Notification and Transmission Requirements for Undesired Substances".
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