EWFC board held virtual meeting on the 24th of November 2020

1. COVID-19

The general COVID-19 situation in our various association’s member states was discussed and a fairly uniform situation was reported across all countries, in that:

• The virus was increasing again, and everyone was in some degree of lock-down.
• The prospect of a vaccine in the near future will hopefully bring better times.

2. Communication and Liaison

The board is renewing its communication with various Members of the European Parliament and future EWFC members.

EWFC is calling for food safety regulations at slaughterhouses to be “re-evaluated in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic”

Consumers are being exposed to an “avoidable risk” of disease after a reduction of official controls in food inspections of pig and poultry carcasses across the EU, European meat inspectors have said. Diseased meat is being eaten by consumers in the UK and EU, including pus from abscesses and tuberculosis lesions from pigs’ heads, said the European Working Community for Food Inspection and Consumer Protection (EFWFC) this week. The EWFC represents EU meat inspectors in Europe.

In response to the claim, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the regulations for food safety had been developed to prevent meat that could be diseased or contaminated from reaching consumers. “If the FSA was aware of any breaches of these regulations it would be treated very seriously and we would take immediate action in response,” said a spokesperson.

Ron Spellman, EWFC’s deputy secretary, said inspections should ensure that no carcass showing signs of disease entered the food chain, but that there had been an erosion of safety rules in the past decade.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/14/european-meat-plants-posing-avoidable-risk-of-disease-inspectors-say?CMP=share_btn_link

On June 16th, the Commission published a Notice providing guidance on food safety management systems for food retail activities, including food donation. This initiative aims to support small businesses such as butchers, bakeries, groceries and ice-cream shops in their implementation of EU rules to ensure the safe production of food sold to the consumer.

The guidance proposes a simple way of implementing these EU requirements. It underlines the value of good hygiene practices that could be sufficient in small retail shops, saving operators from the (quite complicated) procedures based on the hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) principles. Food safety remains ensured by the guidance, which is largely based on two scientific opinions of the European Food Safety Authority.

Building on the EU food donation guidelines, adopted in 2017, the guidance further facilitates food donation by making recommendations on some simple additional good hygiene practices that contribute to ensuring the safe redistribution of food. Food donation can present specific food safety challenges given that food which is redistributed may be approaching the end of its shelf-life and the extension of the food supply chain to additional actors (e.g. food banks and other charities). In context of the increased demand for food donation linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, this new guidance provides timely support for all actors involved. More generally, the Notice perfectly fits with the recently adopted Commission Farm to Fork Strategy, because of the favourable effect it can have on reducing waste and promoting food security by facilitating safe food donation practices.

Further information:

Commission Notice providing guidance on food safety management systems for food retail activities, including food donations 2020/C 199/01

EFSA has assessed the risks to public health from Listeria contamination of vegetables that are blanched – scalded in hot water or steam for a short time – before they are frozen. They conclude that the risks associated with the consumption of these products is lower than for ready-to-eat foods such as smoked fish, cooked meat, sausages, pâté, soft cheese – which are usually associated with listeria contamination.

Food business operators often blanch vegetables before freezing them because this stops enzyme actions which can cause loss of flavour, colour and texture.

EFSA’s experts identified relevant control activities that food business operators can implement to lower the risks of contamination of frozen vegetables. These range from cleaning and disinfection of the food producing environment to water, time and temperature control at different processing steps, and accurate labelling.

They stress the importance of monitoring the food producing environment for Listeria monocytogenes. This is because Listeria can persist in the food processing environment from which it can contaminate food.

EFSA also makes recommendations on how to reduce risks at home. The key is to maintain good hygiene practices such as storing frozen or thawed vegetables in a clean freezer or refrigerator at the appropriate temperature and following the instructions on labelling for safe preparation. In general, risks are much lower if vegetables are cooked properly after defrosting.

Six consumer groups from the BEUC network tested 250 electrical goods, toys, cosmetics and other products bought from online marketplaces such as Amazon, AliExpress, eBay and Wish. They selected the products based on possible risks and found that 66% of them fail EU safety laws with possible consequences such as electric shock, fire or suffocation.
The products failed safety tests because of a diverse range of issues. These include smoke and carbon monoxide alarms that do not detect smoke or carbon monoxide, toys that contain chemical levels 200 times over the limit and a power bank that melts during testing. In some scenarios this could put consumers in a life-or-death situation.

Although online marketplaces often seem to take down products when informed, they too often reappear1. One of the major problems is that marketplaces do not consider themselves to be liable for the safety of products sold on their platforms and therefore do not seem to sufficiently control the trustworthiness of sellers upfront.
The tests were conducted through the International Consumer Research and Testing (ICRT) network, on behalf of a consortium led by Test Achats/Test Aankoop (Belgium) and which includes Altroconsumo (Italy), Consumentenbond (Netherlands), Forbrugerrådet Tænk (Denmark), Stiftung Warentest (Germany) and Which? (United Kingdom). DECO (Portugal) and OCU (Spain) are also publishing the results.

Products were first submitted to a visual inspection. For some this was enough to declare them unsafe. Take, for example, toys with loose components or hoodies for children with cords that are too long. Most products, such as a plastic doll with a sharp scent, warranted more research. This led products as diverse as jewellery, smoke alarms and Christmas tree lights to be tested in a lab.
more: https://bit.ly/3cavk9N

USDA Prioritizes Privatizing Beef Slaughter Inspection Over Food Safety Even In The Face of Pandemic

more at  https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/usda-prioritizes-privatizing-beef-slaughter-inspection-over-food-safety-during-pandemic

earlier:

Consumer groups in California USA file action against US Department of Agriculture for issuing New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) rules that may undermine pork-safety inspection in slaughterhouses.

Food & Water Watch (FWW), Center for Food Safety (CFS), and two supporting members filed an action against the U.S. Department of Agriculture as they strongly oppose the New Swine Inspection System that handover foodsafety control tasks to the companies that run the slaughterhouses.