Improving the meat inspection system in the European Union
2012
Bunčić, Sava (Faculty of Agriculture, Novi Sad (Serbia). Department of Veterinary Medicine)
Current meat inspection system is still largely based on traditional inspection developed in the mid- 19th century, which contributed significantly to controls of classical zoonotic diseases in food and their transmission to humans via meat – so those have become largely eradicated or rare in modern times. In recent times, within scientific circles in Europe and wider, a consensus of opinion that traditional meat inspection is no longer capable of assuring the consumers’ health adequately has been formed. In respect to biological hazards, available monitoring/surveillance data indicate that the main threats to public health in developed countries are bacterial zoonotic agents that can be carried and excreted (primarily via faeces) by animals without symptoms, such as Campylobacter spp., Salmonella enterica, verocytotoxigenic Escherichia coli and Yersinia enterocolitica; but which are undetectable by current meat inspection in the European Union (EU). Therefore, the European Commission initiated scientific evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) of current meat inspection and ways to improve it so to make it risk-based and food chain-orientated. The resulting EFSA’s work (which this presenter has been involved with) is the basis of this presentation. It has been completed for pig (EFSA, 2011) and poultry (EFSA, 2012) meat inspection, and for remaining meat animals species, the evaluations will be completed in 2013.
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