The European Commission yesterday adopted tough food-safety rules to prevent the kind of food scares similar to the discovery last summer of illegal hormones in Dutch pig food which came into the feed chain from Ireland.
A new regulation, drawn up by the Irish Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, streamlines the existing control systems, and brings in stricter enforcement mechanisms, including criminal sanctions.
The regulations, described as "having teeth", will empower the commission to dock farm subsidies if individual producers are in breach of regulations.
Mr Byrne, the EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, stressed the importance of the proposal following approval of the regulation yesterday.
"The regulation on official food and feed controls is one of the main objectives I promised to deliver on.
"It will streamline previously weak and scattered controls and strengthen consumer protection by giving both member-states and the commission tougher enforcement tools."
While harmonised controls in EU states will be audited by the commission, controls of food and feed will continue to be primarily a task for member-states.
He said the new regulation will reinforce the verification of compliance with food and feed law at all stages of production, processing and distribution.
Audits by the commission's Food and Veterinary Office will evaluate performance against control plans.
Contingency plans for food crises must also be established, and staff suitably trained to implement these plans.
Implementation of the plan will cost the commission an additional €13 million along with the €3 million it already spends on such monitoring by its Food and Veterinary Organisation.
The proposal also provides for administrative enforcement measures for member-states to address particular problems of non-compliance, and introduces criminal sanctions where serious offences against EU feed and food law are committed intentionally or through gross negligence.
It also provides for enforcement measures at EU level. Where the commission has proof that a member-state's control system is inadequate, the regulation would allow the commission to take interim measures to ensure the protection of human health, animal health, animal welfare and the environment.