Editorial Information
X1 Substituted by Corrigendum to Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption (Official Journal of the European Union L 139 of 30 April 2004).
a regular check on the hygiene conditions of landing and first sale;
inspections at regular intervals of vessels and establishments on land, including fish auctions and wholesale markets, to check, in particular:
where appropriate, whether the conditions for approval are still fulfilled,
whether the fishery products are handled correctly,
for compliance with hygiene and temperature requirements,
and
the cleanliness of establishments, including vessels, and their facilities and equipment, and staff hygiene;
and
checks on storage and transport conditions.
may be carried out when vessels call at a port in a Member State;
concern all vessels landing fishery products at ports in the Community, irrespective of flag;
and
may, if necessary, when the competent authority of the Member State the flag of which the vessel is flying carries out the official control, be carried out while the vessel is at sea or when it is in a port in another Member State or in a third country.
In the case of an inspection of a factory or freezer vessel flying the flag of a Member State carried out with a view to the approval of the vessel, the competent authority of the Member State the flag of which the vessel is flying is to carry out inspections in such a manner as to comply with the requirements of Article 3, particularly the time limits of Article 3(2). If necessary, that competent authority may inspect the vessel while it is at sea or when it is in a port in another Member State or in a third country.
When the competent authority of the Member State the flag of which the vessel is flying has granted the vessel conditional approval in accordance with Article 3, that competent authority may authorise a competent authority of:
another Member State,
or
a third country that appears on a list of third countries from which imports of fishery products are permitted drawn up in accordance with Article 11, to carry out a follow-up inspection with a view to granting full approval or prolonging conditional approval in accordance with Article 3(1)(b) or to keeping approval under review in accordance with Article 3(4). If necessary, that competent authority may inspect the vessel while it is at sea or when it is in a port in another Member State or in a third country.
Official controls of fishery products are to include at least the following elements.
Random organoleptic checks must be carried out at all stages of production, processing and distribution. One aim of these checks is to verify compliance with the freshness criteria established in accordance with Community legislation. In particular, this includes verifying, at all stages of production, processing and distribution, that fishery products at least exceed the baselines of freshness criteria established in accordance with Community legislation.
When the organoleptic examination reveals any doubt as to the freshness of the fishery products, samples may be taken and subjected to laboratory tests to determine the levels of total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) and trimethylamine nitrogen (TMA-N).
The competent authority is to use the criteria laid down under Community legislation.
When the organoleptic examination gives cause to suspect the presence of other conditions which may affect human health, appropriate samples are to be taken for verification purposes.
Random testing for histamine is to be carried out to verify compliance with the permitted levels laid down under Community legislation.
Monitoring arrangements are to be set up to control the levels of residues and contaminants in accordance with Community legislation.
Where necessary, microbiological checks are to be performed in accordance with the relevant rules and criteria laid down under Community legislation.
Random testing is to take place to verify compliance with Community legislation on parasites.
Checks are to take place to ensure that:
fishery products derived from poisonous fish of the following families are not placed on the market: Tetraodontidae, Molidae, Diodontidae and Canthigasteridae ;
fresh, prepared, frozen and processed fishery products belonging to the family Gempylidae , in particular Ruvettus pretiosus and Lepidocybium flavobrunneum , may only be placed on the market in wrapped/packaged form and must be appropriately labelled to provide information to the consumer on preparation/cooking methods and on the risk related to the presence of substances with adverse gastrointestinal effects. The scientific names of the fishery products and the common names must appear on the label;
fishery products containing biotoxins such as ciguatera or other toxins dangerous to human health are not placed on the market. However, fishery products derived from bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates and marine gastropods may be placed on the market if they have been produced in accordance with Section VII of Annex III to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 and comply with the standards laid down in Chapter V, point 2, of that Section.]
Textual Amendments
F1 Substituted by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1021/2008 of 17 October 2008 amending Annexes I, II and III to Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption and Regulation (EC) No 2076/2005 as regards live bivalve molluscs, certain fishery products and staff assisting with official controls in slaughterhouses (Text with EEA relevance).
Fishery products are to be declared unfit for human consumption if:
organoleptic, chemical, physical or microbiological checks or checks for parasites have shown that they are not in compliance with the relevant Community legislation;
they contain in their edible parts contaminants or residues in excess of the limits laid down in Community legislation or at levels where the calculated dietary intake would exceed the acceptable daily or weekly intake for humans;
they derive from:
poisonous fish,
fishery products not complying with the requirement of part G, point 2, of Chapter II concerning biotoxins,
or
bivalve molluscs, echinoderms, tunicates or marine gastropods containing marine biotoxins in total quantities exceeding the limits referred to in Regulation (EC) No 853/2004;
or
the competent authority considers that they may constitute a risk to public or animal health or are for any other reason not suitable for human consumption.]