Community strategy on dioxins and PCBs:
Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee "Community strategy on dioxins, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)".
In 2004 and 2007, a progress report has been presented on the implementation of this Community strategy on dioxins, furans and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs):
Legislation
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006
of 19 December 2006 setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs.
Replaces Council Regulation 2375/2001 of 29 November 2001 amending Commission Regulation (EC) No 466/2001.
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1883/2006
of 19 December 2006 laying down methods of sampling and analysis for the official
control of levels of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in certain foodstuffs
Commission Recommendation 2006/88/EC
of 6 February 2006 concerning the reduction of the presence of dioxins, furans and PCBs in
feedingstuffs and foodstuffs.
Commission Recommendation 2006/794/EC
of 16 November 2006 on the monitoring of background levels of dioxins, dioxin-like
PCBs and non-dioxin-like PCBs in foodstuffs
Guidelines, scientific opinions and general information:
Guidance on sampling of whole fishes of different size and/or weight
Guidelines
for the enforcement of provisions on dioxins
in the event non-compliance with the maximum
levels for dioxins in food.
Opinion
of the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) on
the "Risk assessment of dioxins and
Dioxin-like PCBs in Food" has been adopted on
30 May 2001.
Opinion
of the SCF on the Risk Assessment of Dioxins
and Dioxin-like PCBs in Food, 22 November
2000.
A
Report
on "Assessment of dietary intake of dioxins and related PCBs by the population of EU Member State" within the framework of Scientific Cooperation was published on 17 November 2000;
Fact
Sheet on dioxin in feed and food, 20 July
2001.
Link to the
European Commission website on environment concerning
Dioxins.
Recent contamination incidents related to dioxins:
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Dioxins in guar gum from India
The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) received on 24 July 2007 a notification from the competent authorities
of Switzerland concerning a finding of a serious contamination by dioxins and pentachlorophenol in guar gum originating from India.
The contamination levels of dioxins and pentachlorophenol (PCP) found in certain batches of guar gum are very high (about 1000 times the level of what can be considered as normal background contamination).
In response to this finding of elevated levels of PCP and dioxins, the FVO carried out an urgent
inspection visit to India from 5 to 11 October 2007. The inspection team concluded that there is to date
insufficient evidence of the cause of the contamination incident, and the investigation carried out by the Indian
authorities has been inadequate to provide any conclusions. With availability of sodium pentachlorophenolate and its use in
the guar gum industry, and with a largely self regulated industry, there are inadequate controls in place to ensure that
this contamination does not occur again.
Therefore, safeguard measures were necessary to protect public health.
By Commission Decision 2008/352/EC of 29 April 2008 imposing special conditions
governing guar gum originating in or consigned from India due to contamination
risks of those products by pentachlorophenol and dioxins it is required that all consignments of guar gum or products containing guar gum
at significant amounts originating in or consigned from India and imported into the Community
intended for human or animal consumption, shall be accompanied by an analytical report, endorsed by the
competent authority from the country where the laboratory which has performed the analysis is located.
As regards the laboratories in the European Union, in order to reduce the administrative burden,
it was agreed that a list of laboratories within the EU authorised to perform the PCP analysis would be
established and put on the SANCO website. Analytical reports from these laboratories are considered to be endorsed automatically by the
competent authority of the country where the laboratory is located.
Measures applicable to guar gum from India - Information as regards analytical reports
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Dioxins in pork meat in Ireland
During routine monitoring by the Irish authorities of the food chain for a range of contaminants, elevated levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were found in pig meat originating in Ireland. The first pig farms were immediately blocked on 1 December 2008. As these PCB levels might be an indicator for unacceptable dioxin contamination, further investigations were immediately started to determine the dioxin content and to identify the possible source of contamination. The European Commission has been informed through the RASFF on 5 December 2008 of the contamination incident.
The use of contaminated bread crumbs produced from bakery waste was identified to be the source. The contamination was due to the direct heating process whereby combustion gases come in direct contact with the material to dry and whereby an inappropriate fuel was used. Evidence indicates that the contamination problem was likely to have started in September 2008. All possibly contaminated feed has been blocked.
EFSA issued on 10 December a statement on the risks for public health due to the presence of dioxins in pork from Ireland.
The Commission, based upon the conclusions of the EFSA statement, issued on 10 December 2008 guidelines for the management of the Irish contamination incident to ensure that potentially highly contaminated products were quickly removed from the market for the protection of public health. These guidelines aimed also at ensuring a harmonised enforcement approach at EU level.
