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Food Safety Legislation

Stuart A. Slorach Chair, OIE Animal Production Food Safety Working Group

Regional Seminar for OIE National Focal Points on

Animal Production Food Safety, Belgrade, Serbia, October 2013

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Background

Veterinary legislation = laws, regulations and all associated

legal instruments that pertain to the veterinary domain.

OIE interest in veterinary legislation is not new, but increased

as result of evaluations of Veterinary Services carried out

under the PVS Pathway.

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Background

OIE Support programme for Veterinary Legislation developed

Training of PVS assessors, country visits, capacity building

1st OIE Global Conference on Veterinary Legislation 2010

New Chapter 3.4. Veterinary legislation added to the

Terrestrial Animal Health Code in 2012 and amended in 2013.

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Contents of Code Chapter 3.4.

Introduction & objective, definitions, general principles

Drafting of veterinary legislation

Competent Authorities

Veterinarians and veterinary para-professionals

Laboratories in the veterinary domain

Health provisions relating to animal production

Animal diseases, animal welfare

Veterinary medicines and biologicals

Human food production chain

Import & export procedures & veterinary certification

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Introduction

Good governance is a recognised global public good and is of

critical importance to OIE Members.

Veterinary legislation should provide, at a minimum, a basis

for Competent Authorities to meet their obligations as defined

in the Terrestrial Code and the relevant Codex Alimentarius

Commission recommendations.

Under the SPS Agreement, World Trade Organization (WTO)

Members are obliged to notify WTO of changes in their

sanitary measures and provide relevant information.

Legislation is a key element in achieving

good governance

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Objective

The objective of this chapter is to provide advice and

assistance to OIE Members when formulating or modernising

veterinary legislation so as to comply with OIE standards,

thus ensuring good governance of the entire veterinary

domain

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Some definitions

Legal instrument = the legally binding rule that is issued by a

body with the required legal authority.

Hierarchy of legislation = the ranking of the legal instruments

as prescribed under the fundamental law of a country.

Each legal instrument must comply with higher order legal instruments.

Primary legislation = the legal instruments issued by the

legislative body of a Member.

Secondary legislation = the legal instruments issued by the

executive body of a Member under the authority of primary

legislation.

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Domain below regulations

Hierarchy of normative acts

Regulations

Laws

Conventions

Constitution

OIE, Codex

Food Law

Decrees

Guidelines, etc

Constitution

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General principles (1)

Respect for the

hierarchy of legislation Veterinary legislation should

scrupulously respect the hierarchy

between primary legislation and

secondary legislation. Legal basis

Competent Authorities should have available the

primary legislation & secondary legislation

necessary to carry out their activities at all

administrative and geographic levels. Veterinary

legislation should be consistent with national

and international law, as appropriate, including

civil, penal and administrative laws.

Transparency Veterinary legislation should be

inventoried and be readily accessible

and intelligible for use, updating and

modification, as appropriate.

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General principles (2)

Consultation The drafting of new and revised

legislation relevant to the veterinary

domain should be a consultative process

involving Competent Authorities and

legal experts to ensure that the resulting

legislation is scientifically, technically

and legally sound.

To facilitate implementation of the veterinary

legislation, Competent Authorities should

establish relationships with stakeholders,

including taking steps to ensure that they

participate in the development of significant

legislation and required follow-up.

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General principles (3)

Quality of legislation and

legal certainty Veterinary legislation should be clear,

coherent, stable and transparent and protect

citizens against adverse side effects of legal

instruments. It should be technically relevant,

acceptable to society, able to be

effectively implemented and

sustainable in technical, financial and

administrative terms.

A high quality of legislation is

essential for achieving legal certainty.

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Competent authorities (1)

Competent Authorities (CAs) should be legally mandated,

capacitated and organised to ensure that all necessary actions

are taken quickly and coherently to address animal health,

public health and animal welfare emergencies effectively.

Veterinary legislation should provide for a chain of command

that is as effective as possible (i.e. short, with all

responsibilities clearly defined). For this purpose, the

responsibilities and powers of CAs, from the central level to

those responsible for the implementation of legislation in the

field, should be clearly defined.

Where more than one CA is involved such as in

relation to environmental, food safety or other public

health matters a reliable system of coordination and

cooperation should be in place.

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Competent authorities (2)

Competent Authorities should appoint technically qualified

officials to take any actions needed for implementation or

verification of compliance with the veterinary legislation

respecting the principles of independence and impartiality.

Necessary powers of the Competent Authority, including

access to premises and documents, taking samples, seizure of

animals and foods of animal origin, suspension of activities or

temporary, partial or complete closure of inspected

establishments and withdrawal of approvals.

Delegation of powers by the Competent Authority: delegation

of specific tasks related to official activities.

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Standards for food safety

The OIE animal production food

safety standards are

complementary to the Codex

standards – which are the food

safety references under the SPS

Agreement.

As the food production chain is

a continuum ‘from farm to fork’,

WTO Members should take full

account of OIE

recommendations on animal

production food safety in setting

measures for safe foods of

animal origin.

SPS Agreement

Food safety:

Codex

Plant health:

IPPC

International standard setting organisations

– the ‘Three Sisters’

Animal health

& zoonoses: OIE

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Human food production chain (1)

Veterinary legislation should provide a basis for actions to

safeguard the human food production chain through controls at all

critical steps, consistent with national food safety standards.

- Role of the Vet. Services in food safety described in Ch.6.1.

1. General provisions: Veterinary legislation should provide a

basis for actions to address the following elements:

- controls over all stages of the production, processing and

distribution of food of animal origin;

- recording all significant animal and public health events that

occur during primary production;

- giving operators of food production premises the primary

responsibility for compliance with food safety requirements,

including traceability established by the Competent Authority;

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Human food production chain (2)

- inspection for compliance with food standards, where this is

relevant to health or safety;

- inspection of premises;

- prohibition of the marketing of products not fit for human

consumption; and

- provisions for recall from the marketplace of all products

likely to be hazardous for human or animal health.

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Human food production chain (3)

2. Products of animal origin intended for human

consumption

Veterinary legislation should provide a basis for actions to

address the following elements:

- arrangements for inspection and audit;

- the conduct of inspection and audit;

- health standards; and

- the application of health identification marks that are visible

to the intermediary or final user.

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Human food production chain (4)

- The Competent Authority should have the necessary powers and

means to rapidly withdraw any products deemed to be

hazardous from the food chain or to prescribe uses or

treatments that ensure the safety of such products for human or

animal health.

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Human food production chain (5)

3. Operators responsible for premises and establishments

pertaining to the food chain

Veterinary legislation should provide a basis for actions to

address the following elements as appropriate:

- registration of premises and establishments by the Competent

Authority;

- the use of risk-based management procedures; and

- prior authorisation of operations that are likely to constitute a

significant risk to human or animal health.

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Codex & OIE standards: meat hygiene

Code of Hygienic Practice for Meat was adopted by the

Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) in July 2005 and is

the primary international standard for meat hygiene.

Chapter 6.2 of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code

(Control of biological hazards of animal health and public

health importance through ante- and post-mortem meat

inspection) refers to the Codex Code and describes the role of

the Veterinary Services in meat inspection.

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Codex & OIE standards: poultry

In 2011 the CAC adopted Guidelines for the control of

Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken meat

The OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code includes:

- Ch.6.4. Biosecurity procedures in poultry production.

- Ch.6.5. Prevention, detection and control of Salmonella in

poultry

Codex guidelines & the OIE chapters contain cross references.

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Codex & OIE standards: animal feeding

Codex Code of Practice on Good Animal Feeding.

OIE has adopted Ch.6.3 of the Terrestrial Animal Health

Code: “Control of hazards of animal health and public

health importance in animal feed” and Ch. 6.1 of the

Aquatic Animal Health Code: “Control of hazards in aquatic

animal feeds”. Both chapters refer to Codex Code of Practice.

In July 2013 the CAC adopted “Guidelines on the Application of Risk Assessment for Feed”.

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Codex standards: some other examples

More than 500 Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) for

veterinary drugs in foods

Guidelines for risk analysis of foodborne antimicrobial

resistance. (see also OIE Terrestrial Code chapters 6.6 - 6.10)

Maximum limits for chemical contaminants in foods

General principles of food hygiene

Code of Hygienic Practice for milk and milk products

Code of Hygienic Practice for fish and fishery products

Standards for individual food commodities, e.g. corned beef,

various cheeses, honey, fermented milks

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Further information

Further information about OIE and Codex food safety standards,

recommendations, etc can be obtained from:

OIE website (www.oie.int)

Codex website (www.codexalimentarius.org) or via your

national Codex Contact Point (contact details on the Codex

website).