WRITTEN QUESTION E-2720/02

by Stavros Xarchakos (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(30 September 2002)

Subject: Consumer health protection in Greece

In 2001, the Commission Directorate-General for Consumer Policy and Consumer Health Protection produced two major reports concerning the production of meat-based products (DG (SANCO)/3159/2001) and monitoring of the production of milk and dairy products (DG (SANCO)/3183/2001) in Greece.

These reports reveal shortcomings regarding the training of Greek veterinary personnel, unreliable sampling methods, lack of cross-referencing and the unacceptable conditions of health and hygiene in some of the establishments inspected (rusty and dilapidated equipment, dirty water used in pasteurisation systems, rust in ventilating systems and many other problems.

The Directorate-General for Veterinary Services of the Greek Ministry for Agriculture did not dispute the findings of the report and in its own document (No 361468 of 25 April 2001), indicated that it had no objections to the wording thereof.

Has the Commission since drawn up any further reports or documents issuing recommendations and, if so, what were their inferences? Does the Commission know whether action was taken to remedy the problems revealed in its reports? Can it assure the Greek public of the stringency of food inspection procedures in Greece and that their health is not being endangered, by for example, mad cow disease? When is the next Commission inspection scheduled to take place and which products will be inspected?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(11 November 2002)

Since the reports referred to, further inspection reports have been finalised by the Commission services: Food and Veterinary Office (FVO). In the course of these inspections, weaknesses have been found in food safety control systems in Greece. The findings and conclusions of each mission report and the related recommendations made to the Greek authorities have been sent to the Parliament in the usual manner and made publicly available on the Commission's web site (http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/health_consumer/).

Over the past two years, the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection has had discussions on several occasions with the Greek Ministers for Agriculture and for Development, both in Brussels and in Athens, to express the Commission's concerns about weaknesses in food safety control systems in Greece. He has received assurances from the Greek authorities that there is a serious and determined commitment to correct these weaknesses without delay.

In February 2002, the Director General and senior officials of the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection visited Athens to review progress in the implementation of an action programme drawn up by the Greek authorities to respond to the recommendations

in FVO reports. During that visit, it was agreed that a progress report on implementation would be submitted on a regular basis by the Greek authorities to the Commission. The first such report was received in April 2002. This indicated that there has been considerable progress in a number of areas and further efforts are needed to solve identified outstanding issues. A further report, was received in September 2002 and is now being considered by the Commission.

Under Community legislation, the responsibility for performing food inspection in Greece rests with the Greek authorities. The role of the Commission is to monitor how the Greek authorities are meeting their obligations under Community law and the FVO inspections are an important part of this monitoring process. Since the beginning of 1999, the Food and Veterinary Office of the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection has, to date, carried out 39 inspections in Greece. The large majority of these inspections have been concerned with food safety issues. As set out in the preceding paragraphs, the Commission and the Greek authorities are working closely together to ensure adequate follow-up to the recommendations in FVO mission reports.

The FVO plans to carry out the following inspections in Greece before the end of 2002, mainly to address outstanding issues and verify actions taken in respect of earlier missions in Greece:

- Transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) epidemio-surveillance, TSE testing, total feed ban, specified risk material, follow up on bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) mission of 2001 and evaluation of TSE measures in small ruminants,

- Food production table eggs/products,

- Food production poultry meat/products/preparations,

- Pesticides pesticides residues; plant protection products marketing and use,

- Traceability of beef and beef products including a review of actions taken in respect of Rentis Market and red meat sector,

- Disease eradication/control programmes Bovine brucellosis eradication programme,

- Review of actions taken in respect of the ovine/caprine brucellosis eradication programme and controls over milk production and processing.