Food safetyinspections

DGAL - French Directorate General for Food

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The food safety system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Official health inspections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Key figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Risk assessment, studies and observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Contents

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Fundamental principles

d Separating risk assessment from risk ma-nagement;

d A single chain of command;

d An integrated approach « from field toplate »;

d Responsibility of actors in the food sector(producers, processors and distributors) toimplement their own controls on the basisof self-regulation, to ensure they marketsafe, healthy products;

d Official inspections based on risk analysis;

d Continuous amendments to regulations totake account of scientific and technicalchanges in the health sector and societal ex-pectations;

d A system of accreditation and controls oforganisations under the responsibility of thepublic authorities, who have the power tosanction when necessary;

d Identification and traceability of products;

d A national alert network and a Europeanalert network for ongoing health monitoringand swift, effective mobilisation if a potentialhazard appears;

d The ability of the public authorities to ma-nage risks, particularly in emergency situa-tions, thanks to an appropriate regulatoryarsenal.

The food safetysystem

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The French Directorate General for Food (DGAL)in brief

The Directorate monitors:— food safety and quality,— animal health and welfare,— plant health and protection.

LEVERS FOR ACTION:

— officials authorised to carry out inspectionsand impose corrective measures,

— quality of inspections and health policy,— management of health emergencies.

The DGAL also acts to defend French positionsat a European and international level.

It manages France’s national food policy andcoordinates regional action plans to reflectlocal situations.

WITH WHAT RESOURCES?

The DGAL implements public policy at an ope-rational level, employing 4,800 staff who relyon both a national network and intermediarieswith a wide range of skills, including 14,000State-registered public-health veterinarians, 30national reference laboratories and around 150specialist analytical laboratories, mainly at thelevel of the départements.

It relies on the risk-assessment activities ofANSES (the French Agency for Food, Environ-mental and Occupational Health & Safety), towhich it refers regularly and over which it exer-cises supervisory authority at an operationallevel.

Number of referrals to ANSES by the DGAL(2014): 53 of which 20 related to animalhealth, 27 to plant health and 6 to food.

To find out morehttp://agriculture.gouv.fr/Rapport-d-activite-2014-DGAL

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Every year, the French Directorate General forFood implements a set of monitoring and ins-pection plans (PSPC) related to the contamina-tion of foodstuffs of plant and/or animal originand animal feed1, including imported foods. Italso carries out controls (inspections) on allorganisations involved in the food chain. Ins-pections are carried out on a number of specificfoodstuffs during the Christmas and New Yearperiod and in the summer.

Border posts with responsibility for healthcontrols on import (from countries outside theEuropean Union) are managed by a departmentwith a national remit that reports to the DGAL:the Service d’inspection vétérinaire et phytosa-nitaire aux frontières (French Veterinary andPhytosanitary Border Inspection Service –SIVEP). These inspections are designed to avoidplant or animal diseases and products that areunfit for consumption from being imported intoEurope.

Inspections of foodstuffs

OBJECTIVES OF INSPECTION AND MONITORING PLANS

These are an essential tool for managing foodsafety and at the same time, contribute topromoting French exports of agricultural andprocessed food products.

The plans are designed to:— verify the health quality of food products and

impose a level of control on professionalpractices and behaviours,

— gather data to assess consumer exposure tofood-safety risks and define appropriate ma-nagement measures to reduce them,

— monitor levels of contamination in foods-tuffs, particularly in sensitive products.

Moreover, within the context of the single mar-ket and the free movement of goods, plans ofthis kind respond to the need for harmonisedcontrols at the European level to ensure consis-tent safety standards across all MemberStates.

(1) All monitoring and inspection plans are coordinated at the outset with the other ministries involved in food safety (Healthand Consumer Affairs) and with the monitoring and risk assessment bodies (ANSES and the Institut national de Veille Sanitaire– National Health Monitoring Institute).

Official healthinspections

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d “Microbiological” monitoring and inspectionplans, including for E.coli, Listeria, salmo-nella, etc.;

d Monitoring and inspection plans for planthealth products in plants;

d Monitoring plans for imported products ofanimal origin arriving at border controlposts, and so on.

The plans are drawn up in conjunction withother ministries responsible for managinghealth risks and the French Agency for Food,Environmental and Occupational Health & Sa-fety (ANSES).

Around 65,000 samples are taken in relationto the plans each year by the DD(CS)PP (De-partmental Directorates of Social Cohesion andPublic Protection), under the responsibility ofthe DGAL. The samples are analysed by the net-work of accredited laboratories with the sup-port of the national reference laboratories.Over 800,000 analysis results are produced.

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN A “MONITORING PLAN” AND AN “INSPECTION PLAN”

The main aim of a monitoring plan is to assessthe consumer’s overall exposure to a risk. It isalways based on random sampling.

The main aim of an inspection plan is to lookfor anomalies, non-compliances and evenfraud. It is based on targeted or suspected sam-pling, i.e. samples are taken on the basis of pre-determined targeting criteria.

SOME EXAMPLES OF PLANS

Around 20 plans are implemented each year.They include:

d Inspection plans for chemical residues(banned substances, veterinary medicines,pesticides, heavy metals and dioxins/PCB)in primary production (animals reared formeat, poultry, rabbits, game, farmed fish,milk and honey);

d Monitoring and inspection plans for animalfeed;

d A monitoring programme for antibiotic resis-tance in cattle, pigs, poultry, etc.

d Monitoring and inspection plans for conta-minants in “fishery products” (dioxins/PCB,heavy metals, phycotoxins and histamine);

d Monitoring plans for radionuclides in animalfoodstuffs;

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Inspectionsof farmsand other sites

Monitoring and inspection visits are carriedout at every stage of the food chain (arableand livestock farms, abattoirs, distributors, ca-terers and manufacturing sites).

The timetable for official inspections is defi-ned on the basis of a risk analysis producedin accordance with a European regulation.Since 2009, a risk score has been calculatedfor each site, placing them in one of four cate-gories (from I - very low risk to IV - high risk)on the basis of several criteria: theoretical risk,production volume, consumer sensitivity (chil-dren) and inspection score.

The inspection timetable covers all sites withinthe food sector (accredited, non-accredited

and direct sales). It is part of a longer termplan (over five years: 2011-2015) with inspec-tions carried out on three separate grounds:

d Prévention: inspections on preventiongrounds are scheduled for sites deemed tobe most at risk.

d Improvement: these aim to improve thehealth situation in certain areas of activityand to assess the effectiveness of officialinspections. The volume of inspections isset locally (e.g. integrity of the cold chainduring transport).

d Punitive: “lightning raid” type inspectionswill be carried out in future, particularly atsites selling direct to the consumer. Thechoice of establishments to inspect and thevolume of inspection will be decided locally,from the types of businesses selected at anational level.

A report on inspections carried out in the pre-vious year is published in order to provide sup-port for prevention among operators andprofessional organisations.

Results achieved: a very satisfactory levelof compliance

The significant amount of work done in the fieldby staff of the departmental and regional ser-vices responsible for food safety, veterinary andplant health inspections plays an effective rolein maintaining an excellent level of food safetyin France.

Abattoirs

Inspections in abattoirs are carried out on adaily basis. Veterinarians are permanentlyon-hand in some 260 abattoirs used tobutcher animals. Inspectors carry out indi-vidual inspections of animals, carcassesand site visits. Health inspections are alsocarried out by veterinarians in around 700poultry abattoirs.

Detecting problems upstream of the proces-sing chain is critically important for productsafety.

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Combatting food crime

The Brigade nationale d'enquêtes vétérinaireset phytosanitaires (National Unit for Veterinaryand Phytosanitary Investigations – BNEVP) hasthe authority to act throughout France. It fo-cuses on organised crime and provides technicalsupport to the inspection services, particularlyin the case of a health crisis in the areas of ve-terinary or plant health. It has both administra-tive and judicial investigative powers and canbe mobilised to intervene on the ground as anemergency strike force if necessary.

What happens in the case of compliance failures?

Controls and inspections carried out on site atevery stage of the food chain (arable and lives-tock farms, abattoir, distribution, catering andmanufacturing sites) can be followed by va-rying degrees of administrative or criminalsanctions if compliance failures are detected.

These can range from a simple warning to aformal notice to remedy or full or partial clo-sure, or even being charged with an offence.

All research combined, the results of analysesshow a level of compliance that varies from90% to 100%, depending on the plans imple-mented.

Detailed results for each plan are publishedannually in a summary report, available athttp://agriculture.gouv.fr/dispositif-surveillance-controle-securite-sanitaire-aliments-564

Managing foodsafety alerts

The DGAL’s safety emergencies unit is infor-med of any non-compliant results of inspec-tions carried out on food products. It providestechnical support to the decentralised servicesfor managing alerts and carrying out investiga-tions, implements appropriate batch withdra-wal or recall procedures and puts forwardproposals for changes in the food safety sys-tem where necessary.

A result is classed as “non-compliant” whenthe maximum limit authorised by the regula-tions for the presence of a contaminant in aproduct is exceeded or a banned substance isdetected.

View the brochure and video:http://alimentation.gouv.fr/enquetrice-de-l-alimentaire

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The actions of the Directorate General forFood lead to hundreds of thousands of controlactions every year, covering the activities ofprofessionals and farmers throughout thefood chain.

Food safety inspections

78,000 inspections including:

d 9,000 documentary inspections;

d 25,000 in processing and warehouse sites;

d 17,000 in institutional food services;

d 15,000 in commercial catering outlets;

d 12,000 in shops;

d 300 tonnes of products seized.

d These inspections have resulted in 14,500actions, including 550 full or partial clo-sures, 4,100 formal notices to remedy and1,100 statements of offence.

In relation to monitoring and inspectionplans:

d Around 65,000 samples of foodstuffs andanimal feed scheduled each year (checkingfor the presence of dioxins, bacteria, viruses,antibiotic substances, etc.) of which 200 to300 are found to be non-compliant.

d 800,000 analysis results.

d Inspections of imported foodstuffs: • 46,000 batches of animals and animal

products• 47,000 batches of plants and plant products

Animal health inspections

d 19,000 animal health inspections, leading to400 formal notices to remedy;

d 150,000 farm health inspections;

d €21.3 million invested in prevention and ani-mal health monitoring.

Plant health inspections

d 6,600 farm inspections on the use of planthealth products;

d 600 inspections of plant health products atthe distribution stage;

d 400 plant controls (general health) at theproduction stage;

d 800 samples of plants at harvest to checkfor the presence of pesticide residues;

d 1,800 import controls on plants in the Euro-pean Union.

Keyfigures

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Risk assessment:Anses

The French Agency for Food, Environmentaland Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES) pro-vides multi-disciplinary, independent scientificexpertise to ensure safety in the food, environ-mental and occupational fields. It provides ex-pertise in risk assessment to the authorities towhich it reports, notably the Ministry of Agri-culture and Ministry of Health.

Every year, the Ministry of Agriculture refers toANSES – with 53 referrals in 2014 – on a widevariety of issues, such as abnormal mortality inoysters, avian influenza virus or PCBs in thebaie de Seine.

Measuring consumerexposure

The aim of the Total Diet studies is to measurethe population’s exposure, through food, to pro-blematic substances such as residues of planthealth products, environmental contaminants,newly formed compounds, natural toxins, addi-tives, trace or mineral elements, etc.

These are used to measure the average quan-tity of a chemical substance consumed by thegeneral population within different sub-groups(region, age, etc.). These data are necessary formore effective risk assessment of consumerhealth and are important for the work of riskmanagers.

The Food Observatory:knowledge and understanding

The Food Observatory was formed in 2010 bythe French Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry ofHealth and Ministry for Consumer Affairs. Itprovides information for the public authoritiesand economic actors on changes in food supplyand consumption. Among other things, it mea-sures food quality in terms of health using ob-jective indicators.

Risk assessment,studies andobservations

Design and content: French Directorate General for FoodLayout: Information and Communication Delegation of the French Ministry of Agriculture,

Agro-Food and ForestryPhoto credits: ©Photothèque/Min.Agri.Fr and ©Thinkstock

March 2015

agriculture.gouv.fralimentation.gouv.fr

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