WRITTEN QUESTION E-2105/03 by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission. Possible lifting of fish meal ban.
Date: 2003-06-25
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: animal feedingstuffs, fish product, food inspection, food safety, veterinary legislation

C 33 E/216

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

6.2.2004

Answer given by Mr Fischler on behalf of the Commission

(28 July 2003)

At the meeting on 26 June 2003 of the Council of Agricultural Ministers in Luxembourg, the Commission
engaged itself to submit in autumn 2003 a communication on the reform of the common market
organisations for three major Mediterranean products, namely olive oil, tobacco and cotton, and to follow
that communication with legal proposals.

As in its July 2002 communication, the Commission intends to provide a long-term policy perspective for
these sectors in line with their present budgetary envelope and the new framework for agricultural
expenditure agreed at the Brussels European Council in October 2002, based on the objectives and the
approach of the reform agreed by the Council of Ministers at that same meeting in Luxembourg.

The Communication to the Council and the Parliament will contain a detailed presentation of the reform
proposal and its modalities of application for olive oil, cotton and tobacco. For sugar, there will be a
description of the various options and their impact. At the same time, the Commission will also consider
the adoption of a proposal for the reform of CMO for hops.

The relevant legal propositions for olive oil, cotton and tobacco will be presented to the Council and the
Parliament before the end of November 2003.

(2004/C 33 E/220)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2105/03

by Niels Busk (ELDR) to the Commission

(25 June 2003)

Subject: Possible lifting of fish meal ban

As imported commodities have now been checked for MMBM (mammalian meat and bone meal) at the
time of entry into the EU for around two years, can the Commission give an account of any positive
findings since the introduction of the checks classified by commodity?

Further, as there is now also a new method of analysis which distinguishes fish meal and meat and bone
meal which has been ringtested with positive results, will the Commission review its position and consider
lifting the temporary ban on fish meal in ruminant diet?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(24 July 2003)

In accordance with point 2 in Annex I to Commission Decision 2001/9/EC (1), each consignment of
imported fishmeal shall be analysed to exclude the presence of mammalian proteins. Member States have
reported the result of 10 407 analyses on the presence of animal proteins in feed materials sampled in
2001 and 2002. The frequency of animal proteins prohibited by Council Decision 2000/766/EC (2) was
1,5 % in 2001 and 0,64 % in 2002. Separate data on the number of samples of fishmeal, and of the
frequency of mammalian proteins in fishmeal are not available. Since notifications for feed were
introduced in the Rapid Alert System in 2002, there has been one notification which informed on the
presence of mammalian proteins in fishmeal.

Fishmeal itself is not considered as a risk for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). The reason for
banning fishmeal in feed is the control of the feed. In particular, the presence of fishmeal may hamper the
control of the presence of ruminant meat-and-bone meal in feed. Results of a recent ring trial indicate that
50 % of the laboratories failed to detect a contamination of 0,1 % mammalian proteins in feed containing
5 % of fishmeal with the official detection method. Research to improve the method is ongoing.

6.2.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 33 E/217

It therefore seems appropriate to reconsider the use of fishmeal in ruminant feed only when improved
control measures are available or in the light of new scientific developments and, where appropriate, the
outcome of a risk assessment.

A Commission working document outlining the state of play of the feed ban will be forwarded to the
Parliament and the Council in the coming weeks.

(1) Commission Decision 2001/9/EC of 29 December 2000 concerning control measures

the
implementation of Council Decision 2000/766/EC concerning certain protection measures with regard to
transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and the feeding of animal, OJ L 2, 5.1.2001.

required for

(2) Council Decision 2000/766/EC of 4 December 2000 concerning certain protection measures with regard to

transmissible spongiform encephalopathies and the feeding of animal protein, OJ L 306, 7.12.2000.

(2004/C 33 E/221)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2106/03

by Christopher Huhne (ELDR) to the Commission

(25 June 2003)

Subject: Food legislation

Can the Commission state whether there is any legislation that prevents some British food chain stores
from donating food to charities that they would normally throw away?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(23 July 2003)

The general principles and requirements of food law are laid down in Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the
Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 (1), which covers all stages of production, processing
and distribution to the final consumer.
food safety
obligation (2):

In particular, article 14 establishes a general

1.

2.

Food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe

Food shall be deemed to be unsafe if it is considered to be:

(a)

injurious to health;

(b) unfit for human consumption.

Circumstances, which shall be taken into account in determining whether any food is unsafe, injurious to
health or unfit for human consumption, are laid down in paragraphs 3 to 9 of the same article.

Article 3.8 of the said Regulation defines ‘placing on the market’ as the holding of food or feed for the
purpose of sale, including offering for sale or any other form of transfer, whether free of charge or not,
and the sale distribution and other forms of transfer themselves.

The donation of food by a food chain store to charities constitutes a form of free of charge transfer of
it must be considered as placing on the market and as such is subject to the
food. Consequently,
requirements established in the aforementioned article 14.

It follows that, in the light of article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, food business operators may not
donate to charities food, which they would normally throw away because of non-compliance of the food
in question with the food safety requirements.