Protection of human health: hygiene of foodstuffs

The European Parliament and the Council managed to agree on a compromise text prior to the second reading of the proposal in Parliament. The amendments proposed by the European Parliament at second reading reflect the compromise reached between the two institutions and the Commission is, therefore, able to accept them all. Specifically the amendments relate, inter alia, to: - a definition of "primary production"; - clarification of the responsibilities of the food business operators; - the introduction of a statement that encourages Member States to promote the implementation of the HACCP principles at the level of primary productions; - description of the possibilities for the Commission to amend the annexes using the comitology procedure; - an editorial amendment to the comitology procedure allowing derogations from the Annexes of the regulation.�