12.3.2013   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 68/26

(1)

Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 lays down general rules for the performance of official controls to verify compliance with rules aiming, in particular, at preventing, eliminating or reducing to acceptable levels risks to humans and animals either directly or through the environment.

(2)

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety (2), lays down the general principles governing food and feed in general, and food and feed safety in particular, at Union and national level. That Regulation provides that food and feed imported into the Union for placing on the market within the Union is to comply with the relevant requirements of food law or conditions recognised by the Union to be at least equivalent thereto.

(3)

Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs (3) lays down general rules for food business operators on the hygiene of foodstuffs. That Regulation provides that food business operators are to ensure that all stages of production, processing and distribution of food under their control satisfy the relevant hygiene requirements laid down therein. In particular, Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 provides that food business operators carrying out primary production and those associated operations listed in Annex I thereto are to comply with the general hygiene provisions laid down in Part A of that Annex.

(4)

Following the outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in May 2011 in the Union, the consumption of sprouted seeds was identified as the most likely origin of the outbreaks.

(5)

On 20 October 2011, the European Food Safety Authority (‘EFSA’) adopted a Scientific Opinion on the risk posed by Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) and other pathogenic bacteria in seeds and sprouted seeds (4). In its Opinion, EFSA concludes that the contamination of dry seeds with bacterial pathogens is the most likely initial source of the sprout-associated outbreaks. In addition, the Opinion states that, due to the high humidity and the favourable temperature during sprouting, bacterial pathogens present on dry seeds can multiply during sprouting and result in a public health risk.

(6)

In order to ensure the protection of public health in the Union and in view of that EFSA Opinion, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 208/2013 (5) was adopted. That implementing Regulation lays down rules on the traceability of consignments of sprouts and of seeds intended for the production of sprouts.

(7)

In order to ensure an adequate level of protection of public health, it is appropriate that sprouts and seeds intended for the production of sprouts imported into the Union also comply with the requirements laid down in Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, and, for sprouts, with the traceability requirements laid down in Implementing Regulation (EU) No 208/2013 and with the microbiological criteria laid down in Commission Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 (6). Appropriate certification requirements should therefore be laid down for such commodities imported into the Union.

(8)

Currently Union legislation does not provide for certificates for the import into the Union of sprouts and of seeds intended for the production of sprouts. It is therefore appropriate to set out in this Regulation a model certificate for the import of such commodities into the Union.

(9)

The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health and neither the European Parliament nor the Council has opposed them,

(a)

the definition of ‘sprouts’ in Article 2(a) of Implementing Regulation (EU) No 208/2013 shall apply;

(b)

‘consignment’ means a quantity of sprouts or seeds intended for the production of sprouts and which is: