WRITTEN QUESTION E-0454/00

by Karin Jöns (PSE) to the Commission

(24 February 2000)

Subject: Austrian warnings concerning salted saithe products and smoked salmon under the rapid warning system for foodstuffs (pursuant to Directive 92/59/EEC)

Since February 1998 the Austrian Federal Chancellery has been repeatedly warning against the consumption of salted saithe products and smoked salmon inter alia from Germany. The rapid warning system is triggered because Austrian food testing establishments judge qualitatively positive findings of Listeria monocytogenes in 25 g samples harmful to health (pursuant to § 8 (a) of the 1975 Law on Foodstuffs). In other Member States, for example France and Germany, such findings do not comprise sufficient grounds for withdrawing the products in question from circulation. The warnings are disseminated throughout the EU under the rapid information exchange system and cause substantial financial losses to the manufacturers concerned, who may be faced with the alternative of either avoiding the Austrian market or seeing their reputation permanently damaged throughout the EU single market, even though it is only on the basis of Austrian criteria that there is a supposed risk.

1. In the opinion of the Commission (to be precise, the competent expert advisory committee on foodstuffs of animal origin, the former veterinary committee), what are the risks to health from Listeria monocytogenes?

2. Does the Commission find it acceptable that there are differing criteria in EU Member States for assessment of the risks to health from Listeria monocytogenes, leading to distortion of competition and undermining the operation of the internal market?

3. What action can the Commission take to ensure that uniform assessment criteria are applied in this connection?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(25 April 2000)

1. 300-600 cases of listeriosis are reported yearly in the Community. The proportion of food-borne outbreaks is unknown, but foods have been clearly identified as a primary source of infection. An important feature of listeria infection is the potentially fatal consequence in particular in susceptible categories of the population.

The Commission regards outbreaks of listeriosis as very serious and asked in 1999 for an opinion from the scientific committee on veterinary measures relating to public health. The committee, which was requested to assess the risk to health from the presence of Listeria monocytogenes at different levels in ready-to-eat food, issued an opinion on 23 September 1999. This opinion is publicly available, for example on the web-site of the Health and consumer protection Directorate-general.

A number of conclusions and recommendations are contained in the scientific opinion. According to the epidemiological data available, it would seem that the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in food represents a very low risk for all population groups when Listeria monocytogenes concentration is below 100 cfu/g. However, uncertainties remain as the above limit is not based upon formal dose-response formulas and the consumption patterns for relevant foods are not directly available.

2. There are no microbiological standards for Listeria monocytogenes in the Community legislation on food, except for milk-based products at despatch from establishments (Council Directive 92/46/EEC). In those products, the standard is absence in either 1 g or 25 g, depending on the type of products. In the absence of harmonised criteria, it is up to the Member States to notify others of the action they are taking or they intend to take when confronted with what they consider as a threat on the basis of their national legislation.

3. The Commission is considering the above scientific opinion with a view to taking initiatives to enhance the safety of consumers. A proposal is scheduled to be adopted this year. It must however be recalled that the primary responsibility for safe food production rests with the food producers.

Furthermore, the legislation in the veterinary and food sectors is facing profound changes during the next few years as outlined in the white paper on food safety approved by the Commission on 12 January 2000(1). An underlying feature is the increasing need for the use of science-based risk analysis. In the context of the white paper, the Commission will propose a procedure to lay down microbiological standards, and, where appropriate and after risk assessment, related maximum limits of undesirable micro-organisms in foodstuffs.

(1) COM(1999) 719.