Public health: control of salmonella and food-born zoonotic agents

The Commission accepts 26 of the 36 amendments proposed by Parliament. These include the following: - the involvement of feed industry together with the food industry in the control measures to control zoonoses; - exempting the production for domestic use from the scope of the Regulation; - requiring Member States, when drawing up national control programmes, to take into account the costs and benefits in order to achieve appropriate distribution of costs; - the FVO will be involved in monitoring the existence of equivalent control programmes in third countries; - broadening certain predefined control measures for salmonella positive flocks of laying hens; - transferring certain criteria from annexes to articles; - consultation of the EFSA is compulsory before adopting decisions concerning specific control measures. Amendments aiming to tighten and add salmonella reduction targets are partly taken into account in the proposal. The target for laying hens is extended to cover all salmonella serotypes with public health significance and a new target for slaughter pigs is added. Proposals to add new targets for calves, other cattle and sheep are rejected. The Commission rejects Parliament's amendment adding an overriding objective to avoid completely the presence of zoonotic agents in the feed and food chain. This objective is impossible to achieve. The Commission also rejected the following: - amendments seeking to add controls of food and other products of plant origin to the scope of the controls; - the addition of an objective to prohibit the use of any antibiotics for preventative purposes or to promote growth in animals. This is outside the scope of the Regulation. - granting transitional additional guarantees for regions with lower prevalence of zoonotic agents; requiring Member States without an approved control programme to be excluded from intra-Community trade in the relevant animals or products; - shortening the time allowed for Member States to submit their reports; - shortening the deadline for laboratories to apply international standards for quality assurance schemes.�