Commission Recommendation of 10 January 2003 concerning a coordinated programme for the official control of foodstuffs for 2003 (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2002) 5556)
Date: 2003-01-10
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: consumer information, fishery product, foodstuffs legislation, labelling, olive oil, product safety, quality control of agricultural products

L 7/76

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Official Journal of the European Communities

11.1.2003

COMMISSION

COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION

of 10 January 2003

concerning a coordinated programme for the official control of foodstuffs for 2003

(notified under document number C(2002) 5556)

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2003/10/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

HEREBY RECOMMENDS:

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Having regard to Council Directive 89/397/EEC of 14 June
1989 on the official control of foodstuffs (1), and in particular
Article 14(3) thereof,

After consultation of the Standing Committee on the Food
Chain and Animal Health,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

It is necessary, with a view to the sound operation of the
internal market, to arrange for coordinated food inspec-
tion programmes at Community level designed to
improve the harmonised implementation of the official
controls by the Member States.

Such programmes place emphasis on compliance with
Community legislation, the protection of public health,
consumer interests and fair trade practices.

Article 3 of Council Directive 93/99/EEC of 29 October
1993 on the subject of additional measures concerning
the official control of foodstuffs (2) requires the labora-
tories referred to in Article 7 of Directive 89/397/EEC to
comply with the criteria in European standard EN
45000 series, now replaced by EN ISO 17025:2000.

results

from simultaneous

implementation of
The
national programmes and coordinated programmes may
provide information and experience on which to base
future control activities and legislation,

(1) OJ L 186, 30.6.1989, p. 23.
(2) OJ L 290, 24.11.1993, p. 14.

1. During 2003 Member States should carry out inspections
and controls including, where indicated, taking samples
and analysing such samples in laboratories, with the aim
of:

— monitoring that olive oils are clearly and correctly

labelled according to Community rules,

— assessing the safety of certain fishery products (bacter-
iological safety of cooked crustaceans and molluscan
shellfish and level of histamine in fish species of
families Scombridae, Clupeidae, Engraulidae and Coryphae-
nidae).

2. Although sampling and/or inspection rates are not set in
this recommendation, Member States should ensure that
they are sufficient to provide an overview of the subject
under consideration in each Member State.

3. Member States should provide information as requested
following the format of the record sheets provided in the
Annex to this recommendation to help enhance the
comparability of results. This information should be sent
to the Commission by 1 May 2004 accompanied by an
explanatory report.

4.

Foodstuffs submitted for analysis under this programme
should be submitted to laboratories complying with the
provisions of Article 3 of Directive 93/99/EEC. However,
if such laboratories do not exist in Member States for
certain analysis included in this recommendation, Member
States may also nominate other laboratories providing the
capacity to carry out these analyses.

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5.

Labelling of oils from olives

5.1. Scope of the programme

In 2001 a contamination problem of polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs e.g. benzo(a)pyrene) was identified in
the low grade oil known as olive-residue oil or pomace
oil. In their investigations, the Member States identified a
labelling problem for different grades of oils from olives,
with confusion between olive-residue oil, olive oil and
virgin olive oils. This created difficulties in managing the
contamination problem. Incorrect or misleading product
in the
labels were found regarding the grade(s) of oil
products as sold. Moreover, the possible illegal mixing of
low grade oils in higher grade products was identified.
Not only does this mislead consumers, but is poses a risk
to public health where low grade contaminated oil might
be present.

The aim of this element of the programme is to verify that
oil products from olives are correctly labelled, to ensure
that unlawful mixing using lower grade possibly contami-
nated oils is not practised and which might otherwise
pose a health risk to consumers. This will assist in the
management of risks from possible contaminated oils as
well as helping to avoid misleading the consumer.

5.2. Sampling and method of analysis

The competent authorities of the Member States should
carry out controls, including, where possible, documentary
checks, at production level before placing on the market,
at retail level to cover products for direct sale to consu-
mers and also at appropriate points such as wholesale
level
to cover products destined for catering use. The
purpose of the controls is to verify that labelling of oils
from olives is accurate with respect to the grade(s) of oil
contained in the product, with reference to Directive
2000/13/EC of
the
Council of 20 March 2000 on the approximation of the
laws of the Member States relating to the labelling, presen-
tation and advertising of foodstuffs (1), Council Regulation
No 136/66/EEC of 22 September 1966 on the establish-
ment of a common organisation of the market in oils and
fats (2) and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1019/2002 of
13 June 2002 on marketing standards for olive oil (3).

the European Parliament and of

Samples of products should be taken and analysed to
determine the oil components with reference to Commis-
sion Regulations (EEC) No 2568/91 (4) and (EC) No 796/
2002 (5).

The overall level of sampling is left to the judgement of
the competent authorities of Member States.

The results of the controls should be recorded on the
record sheet model provided in Annex I to this recom-
mendation.

6.

Safety of fishery products: bacteriological safety of cooked
crustaceans and molluscan shellfish

6.1. Scope of the programme

The microbiological quality of cooked crustaceans and
molluscan shellfish is often critical. These products are
typically able to support the growth of a wide variety of
micro-organisms. In addition certain specific features in
their production, such as cooking on board in fishing
vessels, chilling with seawater, intensive handling and long
transports, make them susceptible for undesirable micro-
biological contamination and growth.

Commission Decision 93/51/EEC (6)
lays down some
microbiological criteria for these products. These criteria
include end product criteria for Staphylococcus aureus and
Salmonella as well as process criteria for Escherichia coli,
thermotolerant coliforms and mesophilic aerobic bacteria.
Recently special attention has been paid for human health
risk linked to the presence of pathogenic Vibrio parahaemo-
lyticus in this type of product. However, there is currently
not enough scientific information to set a criterion into
this pathogen/commodity
Community legislation for
combination.

The aim of this element of the programme is to investi-
gate the microbiological safety of cooked crustaceans and
shellfish in order to promote a high level of consumer
protection and to collect information on the prevalence of
pathogenic
in these
and indicator microorganisms
products.

6.2. Sampling and method of analysis

The investigations should concern cooked crustaceans and
molluscan shellfish before placing on the market, at
production level, and which are already on the market.
The competent authorities of the Member States should
take representative samples of these products, both at the
production level and the retail level, with a view of testing
for the presence of Salmonella and enumeration of Staphy-
lococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and total Vibrio parahaemoly-
ticus count. The samples, of one hundred grams minimum
each, should be handled hygienically, placed in refriger-
ated containers and sent immediately to the laboratory for
analysis.

(1) OJ L 109, 6.5.2000, p. 29.
(2) OJ 172, 30.9.1966, p. 3025/66.
(3) OJ L 155, 14.6.2002, p. 27.
(4) OJ L 248, 5.9.1991, p. 1.
(5) OJ L 128, 15.5.2002, p. 8.

The overall level of sampling is left to the judgement of
the competent authorities of Member States.

(6) OJ L 13, 21.1.1993, p. 11.

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Laboratories are allowed to use a method of their choice
provided that its level of performance matches the aim to
be achieved. However, the most recent version of standard
ISO 6579 is recommended for the detection of Salmonella,
the most recent version of standard EN/ISO 6888-1,2 is
recommended for Staphylococcus aureus, the most recent
version of standard ISO 16649-1,2,3 for Escherichia coli
and the most recent version of standard ISO 8914 with
MPN technique (1) is recommended for Vibrio parahaemoly-
ticus. Additional equivalent methods recognised by compe-
tent authorities may also be used.

The results of these controls should be recorded on the
record sheet model provided in the Annex II
to this
recommendation.

7.

Safety of fishery products: levels of histamine in certain
fish species

7.1. Scope of the programme

The ingestion of fishery products containing high levels of
histamine can cause consumer illness. Histamine and other
amines are formed by the growth of certain bacteria as a
result of time/temperature abuse and of unhygienic prac-
tices during harvesting, storage, processing and distribu-
tion of fishery products. Fish of the families Scombridae,
Clupeidae, Engraulidae, Coryphaenidae, which include the
tunas, sardines, mackerel, abalone, etc., are the most impli-
cated in this food poisoning because of their high content
the aminoacid histidine which is considered the
of
precursor of the histamine. Council Directive 91/493/EEC
of 22 July 1991 laying down the health conditions for the
production and the placing on the market of
fishery
products (2) establishes safety requirements as concern the
limits admitted of histamine, sampling and methods of
analysis.

The aim of this element of the programme is to verify that
fishery products placed on the market do not exceed the
limits of histamine established in the Community law in
order to ensure a high level of consumer protection.

7.2. Sampling and method of analysis

Member States should carry out controls at the level of
auction and wholesale markets, establishments of produc-
tion and at retail
in order to verify that fishery
products do not exceed the level of histamine as detailed
below. The verifications should concern fish of families
Scombridae, Clupeidae, Engraulidae, Coryphaenidae either fresh
or frozen, prepared, processed or preserved.

level,

According to Directive 91/493/EEC, nine samples must be
taken from each batch. These must fulfil the following
requirements:

— the mean value must not exceed 100 ppm,

— two samples may have a value of more than 100 ppm

but less than 200 ppm,

— no sample may have a value exceeding 200 ppm.

However, products which have undergone
enzyme
ripening treatment in brine may have higher histamine
levels but not more than twice the above values.

Examination should be carried out in accordance with reli-
able scientifically recognised methods, such as high-perfor-
mance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

The overall level of sampling is left to the judgement of
the competent authorities of Member States.

The results of the following controls should be recorded
on the record sheet model provided in the Annex III to
this recommendation.

Done at Brussels, 10 January 2003.

For the Commission

David BYRNE

Member of the Commission

(1) Use a 3 × 3 MPN technique with Alkaline Salt Peptone Water
(ASPW) as the enrichment medium as follows. Prepare an initial
10– 1 suspension of the food, and two decimal dilutions of this
(giving 10– 2 and 10– 3 suspensions), using ASPW as diluent. For
each dilution, add 1 ml to each of three tubes containing 9 ml of
single-strength ASPW.
Incubation, subculture and identification
procedures should be undertaken as in ISO 8914. Any tube yielding
confirmed V. parahaemolyticus is considered positive. MPN tables can
be found in Annex B to ISO 4831. Multiplication of the MPN index
by 10 will yield the V. parahaemolyticus count per gram.

(2) OJ L 268, 24.9.1991, p. 15.

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