Foods and food ingredients treated with ionising radiation. Framework Directive

In accordance with the requirements of Directive 1999/2/EC, the Commission presents a report on foods and food ingredients treated with ionising radiation. The report covers the period from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010. It recalls that the Directive requires Member States to forward to the Commission every year:

·        the results of checks carried out in irradiation facilities, in particular regarding the categories and quantities of food and food ingredients treated and the doses administered and

·        the results of checks carried out at the product marketing stage and the methods used to detect treatment with ionising radiation;

·        the details of the approved irradiation facilities in the Member States as well as any changes in their status;

·        a report on the information provided by the national supervisory authorities.

The report contains in mainly tabular form a compilation of the information forwarded to the Commission by the 27 Member States. It sets out the results of the checks carried out in irradiation facilities, in particular regarding the categories and quantities of products treated and the doses administered. According to the information submitted by the Member States, the controls carried out by the competent authorities confirmed the compliance of the approved irradiation facilities with the requirements of Directive 1999/2/EC.

In 2010, 24 approved irradiation facilities were operational in 13 Member States in accordance with Article 7(2) of Directive 1999/2/EC. One irradiation facility has been approved by Bulgaria and one by Estonia during 2010. No approved irradiation facilities have been closed. Seven irradiation facilities did not irradiate any food during 2010.

A total of 9 263.4 tonnes of products were treated with ionising irradiation in the Member States, 88.55 % of which were irradiated in three Member States: Belgium (63.11 %), the Netherlands (16.63 %) and France (11.06 %). The three biggest fractions within the irradiated categories are frog legs (47.67%), poultry (22.5 %) and herbs and spices (15.86 %).

27 Member States submitted information regarding the checks carried out at the product marketing stage. Three Member States did not perform any analytical checks in official control and inspection.

A total of 6 244 samples have been taken by 24 Member States, three Member States accounted for 69.17% of the samples (Germany 52.16 %, the Netherlands 10.47 %, and United Kingdom 6.53 %). 6,052 samples (96.92 %) were compliant with the provisions of the Directives. 144 samples (2.3 %) were non compliant.

Reasons for non-compliance are most often related to incorrect labelling and irradiation of categories for which this is not authorised. 48 samples (0.77 %) gave inconclusive results. Reasons for inconclusive results are most often related to non-confirmation after positive results from screening tests and/or to the difficulty to determine which of the ingredients were irradiated, even if they are labelled, in composed foodstuffs.