Official controls of imported foods: Contaminants

Update

To ensure Member States are undertaking adequate controls of contaminants in food on the EU market, and in imported food, they are required every year to submit a control plan to the Commission for review.

Background

The control plans cover “food placed on the Union market”, which includes all food both domestically produced and imported from third countries. This control plan sets out:

• a list of combinations of contaminants and commodity groups to be controlled
• the Member State’s chosen sampling strategy
• control frequencies (which must exceed the minimum frequencies laid out by the Commission).

In addition, a specific control plan, also setting out the contaminants to be tested and control frequencies, must be adopted for food of animal origin imported from third countries.

Member States are obliged to control for certain contaminants in relation to certain food products, and must undertake a minimum number of controls per year on imports. Which products are to be targeted by controls, and at what frequency, is determined by each Member State on a risk-assessment basis. They take into account, for example, the number of consignments of a given product; possible risk to consumers or population groups in the light of dietary exposure patterns; and frequency of detection of non-compliances reported under the RASFF.

The minimum control frequency per Member State for food of animal origin from third countries is set out in Annex I ofCommission Implementing Regulation 2022/932.

The mandatory list of contaminants for which Member States must control is set out in Annex I of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/931.

Sources