WRITTEN QUESTION E-0810/02

by Michl Ebner (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(25 March 2002)

Subject: Clear ban on microfiltration

A clear ban on the microfiltration of raw milk on the production holding is absolutely essential.

Can the Commission state to what extent such a ban will be implemented and what action it proposes to take in this matter?

Joint answerto Written Questions E-0809/02, E-0810/02 and E-0812/02given by Mr Byrne on behalf of the Commission

(14 May 2002)

The definition of raw milk and linked thereto, the technique of micro-filtration of milk, is a subject that is under debate in the Parliament and the Council as a consequence of the Commission proposals on food hygiene(1). In both institutions amendments are proposed to the original Commission proposal with a view to clarifying the definition of raw milk and the micro-filtration thereof. These clarifications tend to re-introduce the definition of raw milk that is included in current Community legislation, and in particular in Council Directive 92/46/EEC of 16 June 1992 laying down the health rules for the production and placing on the market of raw milk, heat-treated milk and milk-based products(2). Such definition would be drafted along the following lines: Raw milk means milk produced by the secretion of the mammary gland of farmed animals that has not been heated to more than 40 °C or undergone any further treatment. In that definition the reference to micro-filtration is deleted.

The Commission is re-considering its position on this matter and recognises the force of the argument that the standards for raw milk must apply to the milk before collection from the farm without being altered artificially.

(1) OJ C 365 E, 19.12.2000.

(2) OJ L 268, 14.9.1992.