92002E1082

WRITTEN QUESTION E-1082/02

by Jules Maaten (ELDR) to the Commission

(18 April 2002)

Subject: Antibiotics in honey and other foodstuffs

1. A recent survey carried out by the Belgian consumer magazine Test-Aankoop (No 451, 2002) found that 78 % of all imported honey contained prohibited antibiotics (in particular, streptomycin, tetracyclines and sulphonamides), and research in other European countries has produced similar findings. Does the Commission intend to take measures to prevent this contamination, and if so, how?

2. Is this contamination also present in other imported foodstuffs?

3. On 15 March 2002 the European Union announced an import ban on foodstuffs from China, including honey, containing the carcinogenic antibiotic chloramphenicol. At the same time the Commission proposed measures against imports of foodstuffs contaminated with antibiotics (chloramphenicol and nitrofuran) from Burma, Thailand and Vietnam. Have imports of such foodstuffs now ceased?

4. Is it correct that chloramphenicol can still be administered to cattle in the EU by way of exception and, if so, what measures are taken to prevent this antibiotic from entering the food chain via this route?

Answer given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(2 July 2002)

In the EU, there is an absolute ban on the use of chloramphenicol and compounds of the nitrofuran family for animals whose products are intended for human consumption. It emerged from an evaluation of these molecules that these substances pose risks to public health, and the EU therefore issued a formal ban.

The discovery of chloramphenicol and nitrofuran contamination in foodstuffs of animal origin from Thailand, Myanmar, Indonesia and Vietnam led the Commission to call on the Member States to systematically monitor these imports. In practice, these measures enable the batches contaminated by these substances to be identified and removed from the market without any embargo being imposed on imports from these countries. The placing on the EU market of batches of imported honey contaminated with chloramphenicol should therefore not occur.

Within the current legal framework in the EU, the maximum limits on residues in a medicine for veterinary use are laid down following an assessment of an application filed by a pharmaceutical firm. Sometimes, in the course of evaluating the documentation concerning existing substances, the scientific findings did not allow maximum limits on residues to be fixed because the data provided by the pharmaceutical firms were insufficient. This is especially the case with antibiotics such as tetracyclines and sulphonamides, which are authorised for use in the EU with all animal species except bees. However, the use of these substances for treating bees is legal in some non-member countries. This problem could be dealt with by the Commission in the context of future provisions laying down maximum acceptable limits in products from non-member countries.