The European Commission’s health and wellness system has actually released 2 reports taking a look at controls of fishery items in Spain and Saudi Arabia.
An audit in Spain in February and March 2023 by DG Sante made 3 suggestions.
The see concluded that main controls over vessels freezing tuna supply self-confidence that they follow EU guidelines; nevertheless, there are disparities in compliance with nationwide guidelines on frozen tuna for human intake.
Spain has actually set requirements for tuna frozen in salt water to be qualified for direct human intake. These need that operators of freezer vessels carry out a recognition research study of the freezing procedure versus criteria that need to be evaluated and authorized by the authorities.
Although all however one operator has actually not concluded their recognition research studies, they are being permitted to put items on the market for direct human intake, discovered auditors.
System weak points
Products from the freezer ships might get in Spain through other nation vessels where, upon import, manages include confirmation of the salt water temperature level and freezing times. Item from Spanish freezer vessels straight landed in the EU is exempt to extra control.
“This weakens the efficiency and toughness of the main control system focused on confirming compliance of Spanish vessels with nationwide guidelines, however likewise suggests an extension of these guidelines to items from other nations,” stated auditors.
From 2020 to 2022, 49 Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) reports covered tuna from Spain. Many were under the food ingredients and flavorings danger classification. 2 examples were evaluated throughout the audit. One was associated with extreme quantities of ascorbic acid; another covered histamine levels above the regulative limitations in tuna filets. These notices were completely followed up, and in all examinations, it was possible to trace the item to the producing freezer vessels.
The audit group kept in mind that complete approval was approved to one brand-new freezer vessel in early 2021 in spite of the report suggesting that some documentary info was not total throughout the evaluation, which was obligatory under Spanish guidelines to perform a few of the procedures on board. At the time of the audit, authorities had actually not gotten the files and details to comply totally.
Spanish authorities stated modifications will be made by June 2024 to enhance conditional approval procedures.
All imported consignments of tuna frozen in salt water for human intake, from October 2021 to January 2022, were damaging for histamine. From January 2022, authorities transferred to a random tracking tasting strategy.
For among 3 suggestions made throughout a 2019 audit on main controls in the tuna sector, the actions proposed resolved the problem and had actually been adequately executed. For the other 2, procedures remained in development however had actually not yet been completely executed.
Saudi Arabia decision
A desk evaluation of Saudi Arabian controls on fishery items sent out to Europe resulted in one suggestion. This work prevented onsite confirmation on executing main controls and accreditation procedures.
