News

A newly published overview report by the European Commission finds that fish welfare in the EU remains uneven and less developed than for other farmed animals.

Most countries rely on general EU rules, with limited specific legislation and few dedicated welfare controls, particularly at farm level and during slaughter.

While good practices, research and new technologies are emerging, their use remains inconsistent. Key challenges include the lack of clear welfare indicators, limited expertise, and difficulties in inspecting remote farms.

The report highlights opportunities to strengthen controls, improve data use, develop animal welfare indicators, and share best practices across the EU.

For more details on farmed fish welfare in the EU, please click on the "More" link below.

The European Commission has published a report analysing recent outbreaks of quarantine pests in the EU from 2022 to 2024. These pests, including various insects, mites, bacteria, and fungi, have the potential to cause significant economic and environmental damage. The report emphasizes the importance of early reporting for effective decision-making and coordinated control measures at the EU level.

2024 saw the highest number of notifications, largely due to increased reports of pests like the citrus spiny whitefly. Additionally, the first EU outbreaks of the fall armyworm, an EU priority pest, were recorded during this period, along with a rise in outbreaks for other pests such as the Japanese beetle.

The report also notes that the number of new outbreaks exceeds the number of those reported as eradicated, primarily due to difficulties in eliminating pests with broad host ranges in natural environments.

For more details, please click on the "Read more" link below: 

The European Commission has published its Health and Food Audits and Analysis work programme for 2026, aimed at keeping the highest standards of food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, plant health and in certain areas of human health, across the European Union (EU).  

Verifying Compliance and Protecting Consumers 

As part of the programme, the Commission will conduct a total of 159 audits and other controls in EU Member States, third countries exporting to the EU, and EU candidate countries. These thorough checks aim to verify that EU standards and legislation are being correctly implemented, giving consumers confidence that their interests are protected. In 2026, the proportion of controls of non-EU countries will increase compared to previous years (51% of controls in the agri-food-chain area, against 33% in 2025). This aligns with the Commissioner’s mission letter and the EU Vision for Agriculture and Food and, at the same time, supports the EU enlargement process. 

A Transparent and Accountable Process 

The selection of audits is based on a rigorous prioritisation process, that considers legal requirements, risk assessments, and the Commission's key priorities. The work programme is made publicly available on the European Commission's website, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process. 

Additional activities to help ensure Safety and Compliance 

In addition to audits, Commission experts will conduct other activities contributing to the implementation and enforcement of EU legislation, including: 

• Verifying compliance with EU legislation at border control posts 

• Assessing third country market access requests 

• Managing the Better Training for Safer Food programme, which contributes to improve the knowledge and implementation of EU rules among competent authorities’ staff 

• Chairing the Networks of Member States authorities working on national audit systems and animal welfare. 

Learn More 

For more information on the Health and Food Audits and Analysis Programme for 2026, click on "Read more" link below: 

The European Commission has unveiled a comprehensive report on the implementation and compliance of the plant passport system across Member States. These vital passports serve as official labels, ensuring that transported plants within the EU meet stringent plant health requirements.  Issued by either the competent authorities or professional operators, plant passports play a critical role in safeguarding plant health.

The report highlights that the plant passport system is largely effective in mitigating major risks to plant health. However, it also underscores the importance of Member States implementing more systematic and effective official controls on operators authorised to issue plant passports. By strengthening these measures, the reliability of the plant passport system can be further enhanced, ensuring that plants traveling under these passports are free from regulated pests and maintaining robust plant health standards across the EU.

To explore the detailed findings and recommendations in our full report click the “Read more” link below.

Plant health is immensely important for plant production, forests, natural and planted areas, natural ecosystems, ecosystem services, and biodiversity in the European Union. However, it is continuously threatened by species injurious to plants and plant products, which now present a greater risk of being introduced into the Union territory due to the globalization of trade and climate change.

In response to these challenges, the European Commission is committed to safeguarding the agriculture and environment of the European Union from the significant threats posed by harmful pests and diseases.

Today, it published a comprehensive overview report on its latest series of audits assessing import controls for plant health.

The report provides an in-depth analysis of how Member States are implementing controls on the importation of plants, plant products, and other related items, such as wood and wood packaging material (WPM). It focuses on inspections at border control posts (BCPs), as well as through postal and courier services and passenger luggage checks. The report also evaluates the effectiveness of cooperation with Customs and the adequacy of inspection facilities. Findings highlight numerous examples of good practices across Member States, demonstrating a strong commitment to plant health and safety.

However, the report also identifies areas requiring improvement. These include a lack of dedicated storage and inadequate access to unloading equipment at BCPs. Weaknesses were also identified with official controls on sawn wood, logs, and wood packaging material. Additionally, several Member States lack risk-based monitoring plans, crucial for WPM and for detecting latent infections in plants for planting.

In conclusion, while the current system of import controls is effective, the report underscores the need for continued improvements. The Commission acknowledges the effort of Member States in addressing these challenges and calls for ongoing vigilance as pests and diseases continue to evolve and find new entry pathways into the EU.

To read the audit report on Plant Health Import Controls please click the “Read more” link below.

The European Commission has published a new report detailing the situation and control measures implemented in response to outbreaks of the Asian and Citrus longhorn beetle, two priority quarantine pests in the EU.

These invasive species pose a significant threat to over 100 plant species, including ornamental and forest trees, causing rapid plant death. However, the report finds that effective control measures can successfully eradicate outbreaks, even in areas with persistent infestations.

The report highlights the importance of swift action, noting that delays in felling and destroying infested plants can facilitate the spread of the Asian longhorn beetle, leading to further outbreaks.

The Commission's report provides valuable insights into the management of these high-risk pests, underlining the need for prompt and effective control measures to protect the EU's plant health.

Details of the audit report on Longhorn Beetle eradication are available at the "Read more" link below.

The European Commission has published a comprehensive evaluation report assessing the implementation of EU rules on plant health by Member States. The report examines the effectiveness of multi-annual survey programmes designed to detect and prevent the introduction and spread of over 400 species of quarantine pests that could have an unacceptable negative economic, environmental, or social impact to Europe's crops, forests, and natural environments.

According to the report, the majority of Member States have successfully established and implemented the required survey programmes, meeting EU legislative standards. While some Member States have not yet developed multi-annual survey programmes four years after the legal deadline, the report confirms that all countries conduct regular surveys and report their findings to the European Commission annually.

The evaluation highlights the crucial role of these surveys in early detection and timely response to new outbreaks of quarantine pests, safeguarding Europe's agricultural and natural ecosystems. The report's findings demonstrate the commitment of the EU and EU Member States to protecting plant health and preventing the introduction and spread of harmful pests and diseases.

Details of the evaluation report on EU Member States` efforts to combat harmful pests are available at the link below.

The European Commission has released a new evaluation report assessing the preparedness of EU Member States to respond to outbreaks of the most economically, environmentally, and socially damaging plant pests. This report reveals significant variations in the progress made by Member States in drawing up contingency plans for these priority pests. Six Member States have drawn up all required contingency plans, four Member States have no finalised plans, and the remaining Member States have made some progress in completing all necessary plans.

EU rules on plant health require Member States to establish contingency plans for the 20 priority pests that pose the greatest threat to the EU's crops, fruits, vegetables, flowers, ornamentals, and forests. These plans serve as a foundation for national authorities to eradicate these pests in the event of detection.

The importance of contingency plans cannot be overstated, as they play a crucial role in helping national authorities eradicate priority pests. However, this evaluation shows that some Member States still have a significant amount of work to do to be prepared for any outbreaks of priority pests.

Details of the evaluation report on EU Member States` preparedness for outbreaks of the most harmful pests are available at the link below.

The European Commission has published its comprehensive Health and Food Audits and Analysis work programme for 2025, outlining its plan to help ensure the highest standards of food and feed safety, animal health and welfare, and plant health across the European Union.

Verifying Compliance and Protecting Consumers

As part of the programme, the Commission will conduct a total of 259 controls and audits in EU Member States, third countries exporting to the EU, and candidate countries. These thorough checks aim to verify that EU standards and legislation are being correctly implemented, giving consumers confidence that their interests are protected.

A Transparent and Accountable Process

The selection of controls is based on a rigorous prioritisation process, taking into account legal obligations, risk assessments, and the Commission's key priorities. The outcomes of these audits will be made publicly available on the European Commission's website, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the process.

Additional Measures to help ensure Safety and Compliance

In addition to audits, Commission experts will conduct targeted controls, including:

• Verifying compliance with EU legislation at border control posts
• Monitoring medical devices notified bodies
• Assessing third country listings for exports to the EU
• Conducting pre-accession assessments in the context of enlargement

The programme also includes the management of two networks of Member States authorities, focusing on multi-annual national control plans and national audit systems, as well as the Better Training for Safer Food programme.

Learn More

For more information on the Health and Food Audits and Analysis Programme for 2025, click on link below:

In a new report, the European Commission shares insights into official controls and audits on food and feed, animal health, and plant protection products carried out in EU countries in 2022. This report highlights the importance of these controls to maintain high levels of health protection and trust in the food chain, from farm to fork. By auditing and controlling that businesses comply with legal requirements, European consumers can be confident that their food is safe, and trade in food, animals, and plants within the EU and with non-EU countries can flow smoothly.

National authorities are responsible for conducting official controls based on risk assessments. If businesses along the food chain do not meet the necessary standards, authorities must take action to bring operators back into compliance.

The report presents this data through standardised and user-friendly, EU-wide graphs, showing the number of active food business entities, official controls performed, non-compliance issues identified, and administrative sanctions and judicial actions taken.

In 2022, around 16.4 million business entities were active in the EU and subject to official controls by national authorities, resulting in over 5 million official controls, the identification of approximately 1.2 million non-compliance issues, and the imposition of 475 thousand administrative sanctions, as well as 12 thousand judicial actions.

The Commission also played a supportive role, helping EU countries improve their official control systems through training and meetings with experts.

The accompanying staff working document provides more detailed information on the controls performed by national authorities and the Commission. The report emphasizes that EU countries have the necessary control systems in place to maintain food and feed safety and a healthy internal market. Commission controls have identified areas for improvement, and verify that national authorities generally take appropriate corrective measures to address shortcomings.

Discover more about official controls in the food chain, annual reports by EU countries and the details of this Commission report by clicking on the link below.

The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety published an update to its Health and food audits and analysis work programme 2024. This update takes account of necessary changes largely due to the reprioritisation of controls and resources to better contribute to the Commissioner’s mandate. To learn more about the updated programme, please click here.

Animal by-products (ABP), while not suitable for human consumption, are converted into products that are brought to good use in many areas important for our daily lives. These include hides used to produce leather, fats used to produce biodiesel, or proteins, fats and microelements used for feeding animals, for the manufacture of medical devices, cosmetics and substrates for the pharmaceutical industry.

What all of these uses have in common is the requirement for quality and safety of the products derived from ABP and the need for effective oversight of ABP operators by the responsible competent authorities.

A new overview report from the European Commission has looked at the situation in the EU.  It has found that inspections and checks carried out by the competent authorities (official controls) along the production chain of ABP and the products derived are generally implemented well.  Nevertheless, the complexity of certain technical and engineering aspects of operators’ activities are challenging for competent authorities to check, requiring specialist knowledge to be effective. The EU Member States are working hard to address these challenges.

To read more about how ABP are brought to good use, please click here:

Every year, the European Commission carries out audits and other controls to verify that EU standards on food and feed safety, food quality, animal health and welfare, plant health and certain areas of human health are correctly implemented in EU Member States and in countries around the world that export to the EU.

In 2024 there are 234 planned controls, which includes 134 audits to assess control systems at the country level. Once complete, the outcomes of these audits are published on the website of the European Commission.   

In addition, Commission experts will perform demand-driven controls such as those verifying compliance with EU legislation of border control posts, medical devices notified bodies, laboratories and testing facilities involved in studies for regulated product submission, and third country listings for exports to the EU.

The selection of planned controls results from a comprehensive prioritisation process. This is based on legal obligations for Commission controls, an assessment of risks posed in the sectors concerned and the Commission’s political priorities, in particular the Farm to Fork Strategy.

All controls help give consumers the confidence that their interests are protected.

The work programme also presents other activities planned for 2024. These include, for example, on the sustainable use of pesticides, the management of two networks of Member State authorities on their multi-annual national control plans and national audit systems, and the management of the Better Training for Safer Food programme.

To learn more about the details of the Health and Food Audits and Analysis Programme for 2024, please click here.

Fraud in the agri-food chain affects industry and consumers economically, undermines consumer trust and may lead to serious health issues. The EU has recognised the importance of tackling fraudulent and deceptive practices in the agri-food chain and since 2019 Member States are required to carry out risk-based controls to detect fraudulent and deceptive practices.

The Commission carried out a project between 2020 and 2022 to collect information on the new arrangements put in place by Member States to fight fraud in the agri-food chain. Based on this project, the Commission has published an overview report which focuses on eight Member Statues and how their competent authorities developed control arrangements and strategies to combat fraudulent practices. It presents the challenges, opportunities, and several good practice examples in relation to fraud related controls in the Member States.

To read the report on how Member States fight fraud along the agri-food chain please click on "Read more…"

Furthermore, the Commission published in March 2023 a guidance document to support Member States in their efforts to combat fraud within the agri-food supply chain. It is particularly helpful, as it clearly outlines how to uniformly interpret and apply the respective EU laws in the context of fighting food fraud.

To read the guidance document please click here: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC131525

A new Commission report describes the outbreaks of the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa in the EU and the control measures introduced by the EU. The report analyses the challenges to control the disease and identifies examples of good practice. It concludes that eradication in small outbreak areas was successful, when EU control measures were applied. The report also identifies the factors which make it difficult to eradicate the disease in large outbreak areas and describes measures to contain the disease.

To read the report´s assessment on measures to control Xylella fastidiosa, please click here…

Bivalve molluscs (such as mussels, clams, oysters or scallops) have been common in European’s diet since ancient times. They feed by filtering microscopic algae from surrounding water. During this filtering, they can accumulate microorganisms, marine biotoxins and chemical contaminants, which can lead to illness in humans. Therefore, the EU has strict rules to reduce or mitigate this risk to consumers. These are implemented by competent authorities on production areas where bivalve molluscs are produced and harvested.

This overview report describes how competent authorities have developed comprehensive official controls and what their main challenges are to ensure the implementation of these rules.

To read the report on safe production of live bivalve molluscs please click on the 'Read more...' link below.

The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety published an update to its Health and food audits and analysis work programme 2023. This update takes account of necessary changes largely due to the reprioritisation of controls and resources to better contribute to the Commissioner’s mandate. To learn more about the updated programme, please click on the 'Read more...' below.

A new Commission report describes the outbreak situation and assesses the impact of the EU emergency measures to control the introduction and spread of a new virus called tomato brown rugose fruit virus.

The report concludes that EU emergency measures, first introduced in 2019, created a high level of awareness of the disease and contributed to the control of the outbreaks but did not prevent the introduction of the virus to new production sites and its spread within infected crops. It further finds that infected seeds and plants are likely the most significant pathways for the introduction of the virus to a production site. It also identifies weaknesses in the sampling and testing regime of seeds and plants and the implementation of these by some national authorities. Finally, the report highlights the importance of stringent actions to minimise the risk of new outbreaks in the EU and makes proposals for improving the control measures.

Since its appearance in the EU in 2018, the tomato brown rugose fruit virus has caused severe damage in tomato and pepper crops. The infected plants die or produce deformed, unmarketable fruits. The EU emergency measures include controls on the production, import and movement of tomato and pepper seeds and plants, and in case of an outbreak, to implement strict hygiene and other measures.

To read the report´s assessment on measures to control the tomato brown rugose fruit virus, please click here…

The official control regulation seeks to ensure safe food and feed across the European Union. This 2021 annual report of how the Member States are implementing these rules shows that standards remain high in the EU.

Each year the European Commission carries out a number of controls and audits to maintain our high level of health protection in the EU, by checking that businesses and authorities are complying with legal requirements. This way European consumers can be confident that the food they consume is safe. This confidence is key to enabling the smooth operation of safe trade in food, animals and plants – both within the EU and with non-EU countries.

National authorities are responsible for carrying out official controls based on risk. If businesses along the food chain (farms, producers, distributors, packaging plants, restaurants, etc.) do not comply with legislation, authorities are required to enforce the requirements by taking steps to bring those operators back into compliance with the rules.

According to the data submitted by the EU countries, in 2021, some 16.9 million business entities were active in the EU food chain and subject to official controls by national authorities. The national authorities carried out some 5 million official controls in relation to these entities, leading to the identification of around 1 million non-compliance issues, the imposition of some half a million administrative sanctions and initiation of some 8 000 judicial actions.

The report also describes how the Commission supported the EU countries to continuously improve their official control systems through the provision of training and through meetings with Member States’ experts.

The accompanying staff working document provides further information about the controls carried out by the national authorities and by the Commission. The results of these controls show that EU countries have the necessary control systems in place and, overall, they provide levels of compliance compatible with food and feed safety and a healthy internal EU market. Commission controls identified weaknesses in certain national control systems and highlighted where there was room for improvement. The Commission’s systematic follow-up of its audit recommendations shows that, in general, national authorities take appropriate corrective measures to address shortcomings identified.

Learn more about official controls in the food chain, the annual reports by the EU countries and the details of this Commission report.

Fraud in the agri-food chain affects industry and consumers economically, undermines consumer trust and may lead to serious health issues. Food fraud scandals worldwide, including the addition of melamine to infant formula, the false declaration of horse meat and the illegal use of the pesticide fipronil in cleaning agents leading to contamination of eggs, brought the topic repeatedly into the public arena. The EU has recognised the importance of tackling fraudulent and deceptive practices in the agri-food chain. Since 2019 Member States are required to carry out risk-based controls in order to detect fraudulent and deceptive practices.

The Directorate for Health and Food Audits and Analysis of the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety carried out a project between 2020 and 2022 in order to collect information on the arrangements put in place by Member States to fight fraud in the agri-food chain and has published a technical report. This report presents the challenges, opportunities and several good practice examples in relation to fraud related controls in the Member States. It was developed to provide an important resource to support national authorities in their efforts to fight fraudulent and deceptive practices in the agri-food chain and to ensure the integrity of food production in the EU.

The report has been published on the following Commission’s website: https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC131525