The European Commission imposes special conditions for the import of food and feed from Japan

Brussels, 28 March 2011 - Following the earthquake in Japan and its impact on nuclear plants in Fukushima, the European Commission has published Regulation (EU) N° 297/2011 imposing special import conditions for food and feed originating from Japan. FEFANA understands that a number of feed business operators are wondering about the possible sanitary implications in Europe of this emergency situation and has compiled the following information in order to help operators coping with this situation and with possible requests for certificates or particular measures.

From a EU legislative point of view, radioactive contamination of foodstuffs and feedstuffs following a nuclear accident or any other case of radiological emergency is ruled by Council Regulation (Euratom) 3954/87, amended by Regulation 770/90 (modification of the Annex regarding permitted levels of contamination for feedingstuffs). This legislation puts emphasis on the control of radioactivity in foodstuffs and products of animal origin, and the levels in feed are mainly intended to contribute to the observance of the permitted levels in food. Furthermore, under the EU food law (EC N° 178/2002), the European authorities have the possibility to adopt emergency measures for food and feed imported from third countries in order to protect public health.

Through this Regulation 297/2011, the European Commission has activated emergency measures and contamination limits set in Regulation 3984/87 and several other conditions.

Here is the summary of the measures adopted:

- They apply to feedstuffs and foodstuffs as defined under Regulation 3954/87 (feedstuffs means products which are intended only for animal nutrition); this is interpreted as applying to all feed including specialty feed ingredients and their mixtures.
- They do not apply to products that left Japan before 28 March 2011 or products that have been harvested and/or processed before 11 March 2011
- The measure requires that each consignment shall be accompanied by a declaration to be issued by the Japanese authorities (standard format that is provided with the Regulation) attesting that either
   o product has been harvested before 11 March 2011, or
   o the product is not originating from the prefecture of Fukushima, Gunma, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Miyagi, Yamagata, Niigata, Nagano, Yamanashi, Saitama, Tokyo and Chiba, or
   o in the case the product is originating from one of the prefectures listed above, proof of compliant analyse have to be provided with the declaration (caesium 134 and 137 according to the value listed above).
- A single identifying code for the product must be used on the declaration and the certificate of analysis, and on any document (including commercial ones) accompanying the consignment.
- Prior notification of arrival of all consignments must be provided at last two working days in advance of physical arrival to Border Inspection Point.
- As far as feed is concerned, these permitted levels of radioactive contamination are limited to caesium 134 and caesium 137 (monitoring of other isotopes was deemed irrelevant based on the half-life of these and transfer rates from feed to food) as follows:
  o 1250 Bq/kg for pig feedingstuffs;
  o 2500 Bq/kg for poultry, lamb, calves feedingstuffs;
  o 5000 Bq/kg for other feedingstuffs.

The authorities at arrival shall carry out documentary checks on all consignments and shall carry out analysis (20 % of consignments for products originating from the 12 listed prefectures, and 10% of consignments for the other prefectures). Endorsement of the declaration by the Border control authority shall be necessary for the release for free circulation. Costs for these control, are at charge of the feed/food business operator. Non-conform products shall be disposed of or returned to Japan. Member States shall keep the Commission informed of all analytical results obtained. The measures entered into force on 27 March 2011 shall be in place until 30 June 2011 and the Regulation will be subject to regular review.

FEFANA appreciates the proportionality and focus of the measures taken. Since the earthquake, FEFANA has put itself in a vigilance status regarding this issue. We launched with our members a proactive control phase and have recommended to all members to reinforce and take this aspect in their HACCP processes, as covered under their FAMI-QS certification, and of course giving full cooperation to the official controls that are being established by the EU sanitary authorities. It was also recommended that operators inform their customers about the fact that they included this risk in their HACCP processes and inform them about the results and measures taken.

FEFANA is the EU Association of Specialty Feed Ingredients and their Mixtures. Established on 13 October 2004, FEFANA is the new juridical form of the feed additives operators association which was originally founded in 1963. With more than 100 Members from 28 countries, the Association is the interface between the specialty feed ingredients industry and the European Union authorities, including Member States authorities, in order to promote, safeguard and defend common and general interests of the industry (in several topics like guidelines, register, labelling and definitions, analysis, feed hygiene and food chain safety or non-feed use of additives). FEFANA's current President is Dr. Frank Chmitelin of Adisseo.