WRITTEN QUESTION E-2558/01

by Gabriele Stauner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(20 September 2001)

Subject: Health risks resulting from a lack of checks on butterfat

Up until the middle of 2000, members of the Italian Mafia were conducting a large-scale operation involving adulterating butter by adding to it animal and vegetable fats and chemical substances and marketing it through Belgian, German, French and Italian companies. Overall, some 100 000 tonnes of adulterated butter is thought to have been produced, and used mainly in the manufacture of pastry products. According to the Italian public prosecutor's office (press release of 5 July 2000), consumers have, as a result, been exposed to health risks. Records of interrogations and electronic surveillance records published by the French journal L'Expansion in its issue of 7 December 2000 suggest that those adulterating the butter were clearly aware of the health risks involved.

In reply to a question from me, the German Minister for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture confirmed in a letter of 17 August 2001 that it is possible to detect the addition of non-milk fats to butter and butterfat by means of analysis, but that Community law does not lay down official tests of this kind in the case of all measures for the disposal of butter using EU funds.

1. Why did the Commission omit to mention this fact as recently as in March 2001, despite being asked a relevant question, in its replies to the questionnaire submitted by the Committee on Budgetary Control in relation to the Fléchard case?

2. Given the lack of checks, is there not a substantial risk that adulterated butter may still be manufactured and marketed today?

3. What steps has the Commission taken to improve checks?

4. Would it not be best to completely prohibit the manufacture of lower quality butterfat, or at least to abolish the financial assistance currently granted for such products?

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(26 November 2001)

1. The Commission has provided all available information in its answers to Written Questions E-3240/00(1), E-3241/00(2), P-3478/00(12), P-1506/01(3) and E-2210/01(4) and in the answer to the questionnaire on the Fléchard case addressed to the Commission by the European Parliament Committee on Budgetary Control. The Commission cannot identify the question which the Honourable Member claims is still outstanding.

The Honourable Member mentions a quantity of some 100 000 tonnes of adulterated butter. The Commission does not know the source of this figure and is not in a position to confirm it.

2. and 3. The issue of controls raised by the Honourable Member calls for a distinction to be made between checks on the composition of oils and fats under the market regulations, health controls and the more general issue of the traceability of food products.

(a) As regards checks on composition, Community rules concerning official tests to detect non-milk fats in milk-fat were laid down in an annex to Commission Regulation (EC) No 454/95(5) and have since been incorporated into Annex XXV to Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2001(6) laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999(7) as regards methods for the analysis and quality evaluation of milk and milk products.

Council Regulation (EC) No 2991/94(8) lays down standards for yellow fats.

It states that products can be marketed under the sales description butter only where they meet the following conditions:

- they must be derived exclusively from milk and/or milk products. Other substances necessary for their manufacture may, however, be added, provided that such substances are not used for the purpose of replacing, either in whole or in part, any milk constituents;

- they must have a milk-fat content of not less than 80 % but less than 90 %, a maximum water content of 16 % and a maximum dry non-fat milk-material content of 2 %.

That Regulation does not, therefore, lay down health and hygiene standards as the Honourable Member assumes; the analyses that it gives rise to, however, do constitute the only means of detecting adulteration.

(b) Health inspections of milk used as the raw material for butter fall mainly into two types. The first covers inspections under Council Directive 96/23/EC of 29 April 1996 on measures to monitor certain substances and residues thereof in live animals and animal products(9) and provides an assurance as to the absence of prohibited substances (hormones, beta-agonists, etc.), compliance with limits on residues of veterinary medicinal products and certain contaminants (heavy metals, pesticides, organochlorine compounds, etc.). Inspections of the second type supplement health monitoring of products: this involves microbiological examinations conducted pursuant to Council Directive 92/46/EEC(10) on health rules for the production and placing on the market of milk and milk products. In both cases, according to the legislation mentioned such health controls concern the detection of specific substances and microbes only and relate mainly to raw material obtained from milk production. They are not designed for detecting adulteration of the sort established in the adulterated butter case.

(c) As regards the traceability of products, the Commission has set out its position in the White Paper on Food Safety and in its answers to previous questions from the Honourable Member.

According to the Commission's information, the network held responsible in the case in point stopped operating after last year's arrests in Italy.

4. Only first-grade butter covered by Article 6 of basic Regulation (EC) No 1255/1999 is eligible for public intervention and aid for private storage. A product which should be described as a blend in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 2991/94 obtained by adding non-milk fat to butter or concentrated butter is clearly not eligible for Community public or private storage schemes and cannot be marketed for normal consumption under the sales description butter. If it were described as butter, adulteration would clearly be involved. The Commission is of the opinion that the manufacture of lower-quality butter cannot be prohibited as long as the standards on quality and marking referred to are complied with.

However, lower-quality butterfat does not meet the criteria laid down in Article 1(2)(a) and (b) of Regulation (EC) No 2571/97(11) (scheme for pastry and ice-cream) and is therefore not eligible for aid under this Regulation either.

(1) OJ C 174 E, 19.6.2001, p. 28.

(2) OJ C 151 E, 22.5.2001.

(3) OJ C 318 E, 13.11.2001, p. 244.

(4) OJ C 40 E, 14.2.2002, p. 219.

(5) OJ L 46, 1.3.1995.

(6) OJ L 37, 7.2.2001.

(7) OJ L 160, 26.6.1999.

(8) OJ L 316, 9.12.1994.

(9) OJ L 125, 23.5.1996.

(10) OJ L 268, 14.9.1992.

(11) OJ L 350, 20.12.1997.

(12) OJ C 174 E, 19.6.2001, p. 28.