Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a rising threat to human and animal health and requires urgent and concerted action to limit its development and to maintain an arsenal of effective antimicrobials. This report presents an overview of the measures taken in the EU and beyond to promote the prudent use of antimicrobials in animals, as advocated in the relevant Union guidelines. These measures also include biosecurity and vaccination for disease prevention, control and eradication. Encouragingly, there are signs that these holistic approaches have led to decreasing levels of AMR. The report highlights potential examples of good practice which may be useful to other countries in shaping national policies on prudent use, as well as some challenges. The report also describes the Commission's current and future plans in this area, in particular new EU legislation on veterinary medicinal products and medicated feed.
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Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is recognised as a significant and challenging global phenomenon. The European Commission has been at the forefront in developing and supporting strategies to fight this threat. The collection and analysis of reliable and comparable data is crucial to understanding current and future trends in the development of AMR, and therefore designing strategies to minimise it. EU legislation specifies how Member States should sample, test and report the results for AMR monitoring in zoonotic and commensal bacteria found in animals and food. Since 2015 the Commission has audited the AMR monitoring systems of 15 countries. Following the interim report in 2017, this final overview report confirms the importance of these audits in encouraging improvements in the delivery of AMR monitoring, as well as in identifying obstacles to its success and highlighting examples of good practice. The report also describes the Commission's current and future plans in this area, in particular the ongoing review of EU legislation in this area. To read the report and learn more about AMR monitoring in the EU, click below on Read more.
In Member State, food safety authorities must have audit arrangements in place to assure their top management and stakeholders that: • official feed and food control systems have been set up in compliance with European Union (EU) and national legislation; • official controls are carried out as intended; • the control systems are effective and suitable in achieving the objectives of the legislation; A new overview report based on a series of Commission audits in Member States finds that the vast majority of Competent Authorities had national audit arrangements in place and that the outputs of these audit activities were, for the most part used to improve the consistency and effectiveness of official controls. This was in particular true, when there was strong management commitment to the follow-up of audit recommendations. The overview report describes also some specific areas for improvement to strengthen the credibility, reliability, relevance and impact of national audit systems. It finally highlights useful practices and describes actions taken and planned by both the Member States and the European Commission services in response to the findings of this audit series. To learn more about this topic please click on the "read more" link below.
A series of 14 Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) training sessions on Integrated Pest Management (IPM) was launched in December 2018. The training courses are mainly addressed to central competent authorities involved in IPM and aim to improve the understanding of the IPM concept and IPM schemes looking at different crops to help develop criteria for assessment of IPM implementation at farm level. The second phase of a BTSF project to support the Member State systems for testing and calibration of Pesticide Application Equipment has also started. The first training session took place in November 2018 in Marseille (France) with 5 more to come in 2019 and early 2020. Participants of all BTSF sessions actively disseminate the information learnt during the training course in their respective Member State. Further details, see Read more... below.
The European Commission continues auditing the implementation of Directive 2009/128/EC on the sustainable use of pesticides in Member States. The most recently published audit report for Bulgaria found that although a range of measures and actions to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides are in place, serious weaknesses were identified with regard to their implementation. For example there is no system in place for the testing of pesticides application equipment and shortcomings were found in the system of training and certification of pesticide users. The implementation of IPM general principles was introduced only recently and was not complete. No guarantees could be provided that aerial spraying meets the specific conditions under the Directive. Member States for which audit reports have already been published are: Bulgaria, Hungary, France and Spain. Audit reports of Ireland, Portugal, Cyprus, Austria, Greece and Lithuania will be published as they are finalised later this year. To learn more about the outcome of the European Commission audits regarding SUD please click on the "read more" below.
How safe is the food we import? How do we identify risks? How are these risks mitigated? Certain types of food and feed, or in some cases, certain producers or exporting countries, may be more likely to pose specific risks to human or animal health and, as such, are subject to special import conditions. This report explains the mechanisms the EU has put in place to safeguard public and animal health in such cases and how Member States are implementing these special checks. Fifteen audits took place over a two-year period in twelve Member States. Whilst the overall evaluation is quite positive, a number of recommendations were made to further strengthen the checks being carried out, and this has resulted in a more robust import control system in the EU. The lessons learned from these audits will inform the discussions the Commission is currently having with the Member States on the development of the new framework for import controls laid down in the Official Control Regulation (EU) 2017/625. The EU and its Member States are committed to ensuring that import controls are fit for purpose and provide the necessary assurances to European citizens that imported food meets the same high level of food safety standards as that produced within the Union. To learn more about special import conditions please click on the read more below.
As online shopping is becoming increasingly popular, more and more enterprises are tapping into new business opportunities by offering various kinds of foodstuffs, groceries and food supplements for sale on the Internet. However, sellers entering this marketplace are not always aware that the EU food safety regulatory requirements governing traditional food business activities (i.e. hygiene standards and labelling) are also applicable to sales conducted online. A new Commission report about Member States' official controls on Internet sales of food found, that Member States have integrated these into their existing official control systems. It is further concluded that such controls are still limited and will need to be further enhanced, also due to the fast growth anticipated in the coming years of e-commerce. The report is based on a 2017 series of fact-finding missions in seven EU Member States. The overall conclusions along with some good practices and common challenges encountered by Member States can be found in the overview report. Just click on the "Read more" … link below.
Avian influenza viruses are a threat both to global poultry production and to public health. A number of EU Member States recently suffered serious epidemics of the disease in poultry and wild birds. This report analyses the current strategies for surveillance for avian influenza in poultry and wild birds, with the intention to propose alternatives to detect the disease faster in those animal populations and to accelerate its control. This report is part of the Commission initiative to identify options to enhance the effectiveness of prevention policies for avian influenza in the EU in order to mitigate the risks of transmission from wild birds to poultry, and reduce the spread of the disease within domestic populations. Click on the Read more... link below to learn more about avian influenza and the options to mitigate risks.
In its Health and Food Audits and Analysis programme for 2019, the European Commission plans to conduct up to 211 audits and other on-the-spot visits in EU Member States and in countries outside the EU. 34% of audits and fact-finding missions deal with food safety, 14% with animal health and welfare, and 9% with plant health. 6% of audits each will be carried out in the areas of food quality and feed safety, while 4% of audits each concern import controls and follow-up. 23% of audits and on-the-spot visits are planned in the health area, dealing with medical devices, antimicrobial resistance and active pharmaceutical ingredients. The Commission also plans to conduct a number of desk analyses to support its audit activities as well as a broad range of follow-up, networking and training activities. The objective of these measures is to ensure that EU legislation on food safety and quality, animal health and welfare, plant health and certain areas of human health is properly implemented and enforced. The outcome of the audits carried out by the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, and, in particular, by its Directorate 'Health and Food Audits and Analysis', will be made available to the public. The findings on the ground will also be summarised in overview reports which serve as a basis for discussions with Member States about identified common challenges and best practices to share. The programme also contains a short report of the audits performed in 2017. Through this work, the Commission is able • to retain its critical oversight of the operation of control systems and • to establish whether the legislation in the above areas remains effective and fit for purpose to minimise risks to food safety, public health, animal health and welfare, and plant health. As a result, EU citizens and businesses can continue to enjoy uniform and high levels of safety. Click on the "Read More..." below for more about the work programme
A new report highlights the possible improvements for appropriate prevention, surveillance and control measures of diseases in the EU €1 billion mollusc sector, which it is hoped to facilitate movements of healthy molluscs in EU waters. Based on visits to four countries representing the majority of shellfish production, the report concludes that success of disease control measures is very much dependent on each concerned Member State implementing all the relevant elements of the legislation. The report also identifies several points, which should be taken into account when considering to amend certain elements of the EU legislative framework. Also it identifies a number of challenges that would merit being taken into account to improve the common EU animal health control system in this distinctive aquaculture production sector. Click on the "Read more..." below for the identified opportunities