L_2009300EN.01000101.xml
| 14.11.2009 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | L 300/1 |
REGULATION (EC) No 1069/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 21 October 2009
laying down health rules as regards animal by-products and derived products not intended for human consumption and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 (Animal by-products Regulation)
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, and in particular Article 152(4)(b) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),
Having consulted the Committee of the Regions,
Acting in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 251 of the Treaty (2),
Whereas:
| (1) | Animal by-products not intended for human consumption are a potential source of risks to public and animal health. Past crises related to outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, the spread of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and the occurrence of dioxins in feedingstuffs have shown the consequences of the improper use of certain animal by-products for public and animal health, the safety of the food and feed chain and consumer confidence. In addition, such crises may also have a wider adverse impact on society as a whole, by their impact on the socioeconomic situation of the farmers and of the industrial sectors concerned and on consumer confidence in the safety of products of animal origin. Disease outbreaks could also have negative consequences for the environment, not only due to the disposal problems posed, but also as regards biodiversity. |
| (2) | Animal by-products arise mainly during the slaughter of animals for human consumption, during the production of products of animal origin such as dairy products, and in the course of the disposal of dead animals and during disease control measures. Regardless of their source, they pose a potential risk to public and animal health and the environment. This risk needs to be adequately controlled, either by directing such products towards safe means of disposal or by using them for different purposes, provided that strict conditions are applied which minimise the health risks involved. |
| (3) | The disposal of all animal by-products is not a realistic option, as it would lead to unsustainable costs and risks for the environment. Conversely, there is a clear interest for all citizens that, provided the health risks are minimised, a wide range of animal by-products are safely used for various applications in a sustainable manner. A wide range of animal by-products are indeed commonly used in important productive sectors, such as the pharmaceutical, feed and leather industries. |
| (4) | New technologies have widened the possible use of animal by-products or derived products to a large number of productive sectors, in particular for the generation of energy. However, the use of those new technologies might pose health risks that must also be minimised. |
| (5) | Community health rules for collection, transport, handling, treatment, transformation, processing, storage, placing on the market, distribution, use or disposal of animal by-products should be laid down in a coherent and comprehensive framework. |
| (6) | Those general rules should be proportionate to the risk to public and animal health which animal by-products pose when they are dealt with by operators at different stages of the chain from collection to their use or disposal. The rules should also take into account the risks for the environment posed during those operations. The Community framework should include health rules on the placing on the market, including intra-Community trade and import, of animal by-products, where appropriate. |
| (7) | In Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 (3), the European Parliament and the Council laid down Community health rules concerning animal by-products not intended for human consumption. Based on scientific advice and as an action under the Commission White Paper of 12 January 2000 on Food Safety, that Regulation introduced a set of rules aimed at protecting the safety of the food and feed chain, which is complementary to Community legislation on food and feed. Those rules have significantly improved the level of protection in the Community against the risks posed by animal by-products. |
| (8) | Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 introduced the classification of animal by-products into three categories according to the degree of risk involved. It requires operators to keep animal by-products of different categories separate from each other if they wish to make use of animal by-products which do not pose a significant risk to public or animal health, in particular if such products are derived from material fit for human consumption. That Regulation also introduced the principle that high-risk material should not be fed to farmed animals, and that material derived from animals is not to be fed to animals of the species from which it is derived. Pursuant to that Regulation, only material from animals which have undergone veterinary inspection is to enter the feed chain. In addition, it lays down rules for processing standards which ensure the reduction of risks. |
| (9) | Under Article 35(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002, the Commission is to submit a report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the measures taken by the Member States to ensure compliance with that Regulation. The report is to be accompanied, if appropriate, by legislative proposals. The report was submitted on 21 October 2005 and emphasised that the principles of Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 should be maintained. In addition, it highlighted the areas where amendments to that Regulation were considered necessary, in particular clarifications as regards the applicability of the rules to finished products, the relationship with other Community legislation and the classification of certain material. The findings of a series of fact-finding missions carried out in the Member States by the Food and Veterinary Office of the Commission (FVO) in 2004 and 2005 support those conclusions. According to the FVO, improvements are necessary as regards the traceability of the flow of animal by-products and the effectiveness and harmonisation of official controls. |
| (10) | The Scientific Steering Committee, which was superseded by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2002, has adopted a number of opinions concerning animal by-products. Those opinions demonstrate the need to maintain the main principles of Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002; in particular that animal by-products derived from animals shown not to be fit for human consumption as a result of a health inspection should not enter the feed chain. However, those animal by-products may be recovered and used for the production of technical or industrial products under specified health conditions. |
| (11) | The conclusions of the Presidency of the Council on the Commission report of 21 October 2005 which were adopted in December 2005, and the subsequent consultations carried out by the Commission, have highlighted that the rules laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 should be improved. The chief objectives of the rules on animal by-products, namely the control of risks to public and animal health and the protection of the safety of the food and feed chain, should be clearly laid down. The provisions of this Regulation should permit the achievement of those objectives. |
| (12) | The rules on animal by-products laid down in this Regulation should apply to products that may not be used for human consumption under Community legislation, in particular where they do not comply with food hygiene legislation or where they may not be placed on the market as food since they are unsafe either because they are injurious to health or unfit for human consumption (animal by-products ‘by law’). Those rules should, however, also apply to products of animal origin which do comply with certain rules regarding their possible use for human consumption, or which are raw materials for the production of products for human consumption, even if they are eventually destined for other purposes (animal by-products ‘by choice’). |
| (13) | In addition, in order to prevent risks arising from wild animals, bodies or parts of bodies of such animals suspected of being infected with a transmissible disease should be subject to the rules laid down in this Regulation. This inclusion should not imply an obligation to collect and dispose of bodies of wild animals that have died or that are hunted in their natural habitat. If good hunting practices are observed, intestines and other body parts of wild game may be disposed of safely on site. Such practices for the mitigation of risks are well-established in Member States and are in some cases based on cultural traditions or on national legislation which regulates the activities of hunters. Community legislation, in particular Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin (4), lays down rules for handling of meat and animal by-products from wild game. Those rules also place the responsibility for the prevention of risks on trained persons such as hunters. In view of the potential risks for the food chain, animal by-products from killed wild game should only be subject to this Regulation in so far as food hygiene legislation applies to the placing on the market of such game and involves operations carried out by game-handling establishments. In addition, animal by-products for the preparation of game trophies should be covered |
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