WRITTEN QUESTION E-2446/99 by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission. Consumer protection in Lazio.
Date: 1999-12-16
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: Italy, Latium, food inspection, infringement of EU law, legal basis, national implementing measure

C 303 E/62

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

24.10.2000

(2000/C 303 E/055)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2446/99

by Roberta Angelilli (UEN) to the Commission

(16 December 1999)

Subject: Consumer protection in Lazio

In the wake of recent events in various Member States involving adulterated or genetically modified food, a
debate on food safety and hygiene is now under way also in Italy; at the centre of the debate are the
inspections that should be enforced by the authorities with a view to protecting public health.

including 93/99/EEC (1), 86/96/COL (recommendation by the EFTA supervisory
Numerous directives,
authority), 90/220/EEC (2), 89/397/EEC (3) and 93/43/EEC (4) clearly set out several parameters which the
inspections are supposed to fulfil. According to these parameters, 30 to 50 sample checks per 10 000
inhabitants should be carried out. Thus in the case of Rome and its province, 15 000 (cid:129) 20 000
inspections should be conducted. Unfortunately, however, only some 11 samples per day, or 4 000 per
year, are actually analysed in Rome (cid:129) far fewer than the number prescribed by the European directives.
Even after the infamous dioxin-contaminated chicken scandal, the Lazio region failed to set up any serious
food-inspection programmes, thereby exposing consumers to grave danger.

Can the Commission therefore say:

1. whether there are any other directives on the above subjects;

2. whether Italy has fully transposed all such directives;

3.

if not, what action the Commission has taken, or intends to take, against the competent Italian
authorities, notably the regional authorities of Lazio;

4. whether, given the urgency of the situation due to the constant threat to consumer health in Lazio, it

feels it should take direct action and order adequate inspections?

(1) OJ L 290, 24.11.1993, p. 14.
(2) OJ L 117, 8.5.1990, p. 15.
(3) OJ L 186, 30.6.1989, p. 23.
(4) OJ L 175, 19.7.1993, p. 1.

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(4 February 2000)

Council Directive 89/397/EEC of 14 June 1989 on the official control of foodstuffs and Council Directive
93/99/EEC of 29 October 1993 on the additional measures relating to the control of foodstuffs require
controls to be carried out by the Member States to ensure that the provisions of both European and
national foodstuffs legislation are met. The two Council directives contain the general principles and
requirements for the controls of a wide range of foodstuffs legislation including the hygiene of foodstuffs,
contaminants, labelling, additives, sweeteners, flavourings, and material in contact with food. They do not
lay down inspection or sampling frequencies, but rather establish the general principles that
food
establishments should be inspected at a frequency proportionate to the risk, with samples taken where
necessary to support inspection activities. Although an important adjunct to other control work, sampling
alone is not the cornerstone, as it provides only limited information.

The underlying principle of control
legislation is to ensure that controls are applied at the point of
manufacture of the foodstuff by the food business. These controls are in turn monitored by the authorities
through inspection, audit and where necessary, sampling. Controls at the point of manufacture provide a

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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more solid basis for ensuring the safety of the food rather than the sampling of foods on the market,
although Member States are encouraged to undertake some sampling at market level for monitoring and
surveillance purposes.

Under Article 14 of Directive 89/397/EEC the Member States submit to the Commission the results of
their control activities including the number of inspections carried out, the number of infringements found
and an overview of the samples that have been taken for certain classes of foodstuffs. The Italian
authorities have submitted their control statistics to the Commission under this provision and these
illustrate that the Italian control authorities follow the principles established in the control directives. The
statistics are not broken down into the regions of each Member State.

Every year since 1993 the Commission has recommended to the Member States that certain food controls
are carried out throughout the Community to address a particular issue. In some cases this involves the
sampling and analysis of foods, and indeed Recommendation 86/96/COL of 10th July 1996 reflects the
implementation of the 1996 co-ordinated programme in the European Economic Area (EEA) area. For the
year 2000, the programme will focus on the controls carried out in relation to the bulk transport of
foodstuffs, the application of food safety systems in certain types of food businesses and the accuracy of
labelling relating to nutritional information. As with all previous years the Commission has not made
recommendations concerning the level or rate of samples to be taken or the number of food businesses
that should be included in the programme.

Sampling is also undertaken in the Member States in relation to compulsory residue monitoring plans
within the framework of Council Directive 96/23/EC of 29 April 1996 on measures to monitor certain
substances and residues thereof in live animals and animal products (1). These plans include monitoring for
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other environmental contaminants like dioxin. Italy complied by
submitting results from year 1998 and with the proposed plan for 1999.

In addition to the statistical information on controls provided by the Member States, the Commission
undertakes audits of the Member States under the provision of Article 5 of Directive 93/99/EEC, and under
the provisions of other directives relating to the production of
foods of animal origin. These are
undertaken by the Commission(cid:146)s food and veterinary office.

Article 4 of Council Directive 90/220/EEC of 23 April 1990 on the deliberate release into the environment
of genetically modified organisms (2) provides that Member States should ensure that the competent
authority organises inspection and control measures as appropriate,
to ensure compliance with the
Directive. This may include sampling and control to determine whether a genetically modified organism
(GMO) has, or has not, been authorised. Whilst this relates to experimental and commercial releases of
GMOs it does not extend to the inspection and sampling of GMOs in foodstuffs.

The Commission is aware that improvements are generally required in the consistency of controls carried
out by the Member States. European legislation on controls needs to be modernised in order to take
advantage of new control techniques and the lessons learned as a result of the recent food safety scares on
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and dioxin. In this respect, the Commission(cid:146)s white paper on
food safety (3) made recommendations for improvements in the legislation on control, to ensure their
adequacy at all parts of the production chain from farm to fork, including new provisions for the control
of animal feeding stuffs. The Commission also increased the emphasis placed on the monitoring of the
competent authorities for food control in Member States by the Commission(cid:146)s food and veterinary office.

Information concerning controls in Member States can be found on the website: http://europa.eu.int/
comm/dg24/health

(1) OJ L 125, 23.5.1996.
(2) OJ L 117, 8.5.1990.
(3) COM(1999) 719 final.