It’s the start of the year and most food companies are taking the opportunity to update their control plan. By grouping together the analyzes to be carried out, the control plan establishes an adequate monitoring system for microbiological, parasitic, chemical, physical and allergen contaminants, as well as potential food fraud. National or European regulatory requirements exist, but it is interesting to use current events (product recalls, RASFF alerts, etc.) to adapt your control plan and select the right contaminants.
Select the right contaminants
From a regulatory point of view, the end of years are all the more interesting because they in principle announce the authorities’ monitoring plans for the following year. So, if we take a closer look at the regulatory news for the month of December, we can observe several interesting texts on this subject.
A text caught my attention at European level, Implementing Regulation EU 2024/3153 of December 18, 2024 which modifies Implementing Regulation EU 2019/1793 relating to the temporary strengthening of official controls and emergency measures governing the entry into the Union of certain third countries. This text is interesting because it is based on observation of recent cases of contamination to strengthen control plans for imported products. The updates cover the following countries: Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Madagascar, Rwanda, Turkey and Vietnam. The appendices give the updated list and highlight the matrices and contaminants to take into account for these reinforced controls. If we take the example of China, reinforced controls are planned for aflatoxins in peanuts and peanut-based products, while for peppers it will be salmonella, and for tea pesticide residues.
Six national texts are also interesting:
- Technical instruction DGAL/SDEIGIR/2024-651 of December 3, 2024 reviews the specific provisions relating to the implementation of the monitoring plan for pesticides in certain foodstuffs of animal origin : pig fats and cow’s milk in 2025 (with monitoring of organochlorines, organophosphates and pyrethroid/famoxadone, fipronil, glyphosate, ammonium glufosinate/copper compounds).
- The technical instruction DGAL/SDEIGIR/2024-724 of December 20, 2024 establishes the monitoring plan for the contamination of fishery products (tuna) by histamine and five biogenic amines at the production stage (establishments handling and/or processing fishery products).
- The technical instruction DGAL/SDEIGIR/2024-719 of December 20, 2024 formalizes the control plan for foodstuffs treated or likely to be treated by ionization as part of the PSPC system for the year 2025 (examples of categories of foodstuffs concerned: vegetables and dried fruits, teas, spices, plant-based food supplements, meats, seafood, avocados, dehydrated soups).
- The technical instruction DGAL/SDEIGIR/2024-659 of December 4, 2025 details the monitoring plan for Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in pigs fattening at the slaughterhouse — 2025.
- The technical instruction DGAL/SDEIGIR/2024-667 of December 5, 2024 presents the exploratory plan for contamination by lipophilic phycotoxins, ASP and PSP from sea urchins and tunicates at the production and distribution stages — 2025.
- Technical instruction DGAL/SDEIGIR/2024-655 of December 3, 2024 describes the monitoring plan for the antibiotic resistance of certain sentinel and zoonotic bacteria in the cecal contents of pigs fattening and bovins less than a year — 2025.
All of this information should serve as a guide for updating your control plans. In order to define priorities, it is also important to take into account the history of the latest RASFF recalls and alerts as well as the raw material incorporation rate in your finished product. Analytical budgets are limited, but common sense allows you to remain efficient.
Swiss
