Food in the European Union has become even safer over the past year thanks, in part, to the withdrawal from the market of harmful pesticides and the strengthening of the Union's border control activity. As of January 2010, the EU has in essence established a common control border as regards certain fruits and vegetables; for these imported products a new control regime has been introduced, which provides that consignments are checked at the EU borders before their entry into the Union.
The EU pesticide legislation is probably the strictest in the world and the EU has undertaken several important achievements to improve the level of consumer protection. Over the last two years the Commission harmonised the legislation on maximum residue levels of pesticides in food and feed and finalised the evaluation of pesticides on the market. This exercise led to the withdrawal of about 700 substances out of the original 1000.
Furthermore, the EU adopted stricter rules on pesticide approval in November 2009, which will enter into force in June 2011. These rules concern carcinogens, mutagens and substances that are toxic for reproduction and endocrine systems. The new rules will not allow the approval of such substances unless exposure to humans is negligible.
To ensure that the safety requirements are fully respected, thus guaranteeing a high level of consumer protection, an efficient control system must be in place. For this reason, controls are applied at all levels of the food chain, both on domestic and on imported products.
The EU rules introduced in January 2010 require an increased level of border controls on a number of imported fruit and vegetables. The actual controls are carried out by Member States' competent authorities and focus on a list of products of plant origin from certain third countries, for which reinforced surveillance is required. The list is subject to a quarterly review. Among other things, the new regime provides for documentary checks and analysis for pesticides on a large variety of fruit and vegetables like mangoes, bananas, aubergines, courgettes and pears imported from specific third countries.
Since the introduction of this regime in January about 13600 consignments of imported fruit and vegetables were checked. 10% of these products were tested and 10% of the tested products were non-compliant with the relevant EU safety requirements.
The EU pesticide legislation is probably the strictest in the world and the EU has undertaken several important achievements to improve the level of consumer protection. Over the last two years the Commission harmonised the legislation on maximum residue levels of pesticides in food and feed and finalised the evaluation of pesticides on the market. This exercise led to the withdrawal of about 700 substances out of the original 1000.
Furthermore, the EU adopted stricter rules on pesticide approval in November 2009, which will enter into force in June 2011. These rules concern carcinogens, mutagens and substances that are toxic for reproduction and endocrine systems. The new rules will not allow the approval of such substances unless exposure to humans is negligible.
To ensure that the safety requirements are fully respected, thus guaranteeing a high level of consumer protection, an efficient control system must be in place. For this reason, controls are applied at all levels of the food chain, both on domestic and on imported products.
The EU rules introduced in January 2010 require an increased level of border controls on a number of imported fruit and vegetables. The actual controls are carried out by Member States' competent authorities and focus on a list of products of plant origin from certain third countries, for which reinforced surveillance is required. The list is subject to a quarterly review. Among other things, the new regime provides for documentary checks and analysis for pesticides on a large variety of fruit and vegetables like mangoes, bananas, aubergines, courgettes and pears imported from specific third countries.
Since the introduction of this regime in January about 13600 consignments of imported fruit and vegetables were checked. 10% of these products were tested and 10% of the tested products were non-compliant with the relevant EU safety requirements.
*For further information, please see:http://ec.europa.eu/food/plant/protection/pesticides/index_en.htm
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