At the beginning of this year the news broke that 2300 tons of potentially contaminated feed fat had been delivered to 25 German feed manufacturers. Between 100,000 and 200,000 tons of feed had been produced with the tainted ingredient. Almost 5000 farms in Germany had accepted delivery of this product. We were facing the first major food crisis of 2011.

This year alone we dealt with three such crises: the dioxin contamination in Germany, the possible contamination of imported food after the nuclear accident in Japan and the E. Coli outbreak that affected mostly the northern part of Germany.

We can consider such incidents to be the exceptions which prove the rule. They stand in sharp contrast with the fact that in the EU we have in place what is probably the safest food chain in the world. An intricate architecture of rules and regulations applies as a matter of course in the production of all food and from farm to fork everyday across the EU. All imported food is monitored to ensure it reaches the same safety standards.

Still the exceptions do occur: we have faced crises in the past and we will face crises in the future. The challenges of the past have led
us to develop a crisis response structure which becomes ever more swift and effective through the lessons learned in dealing with crises.

Let’s take the example of the dioxin contamination.

My services were in constant contact with the German authorities throughout the dioxin crisis. They immediately disseminated all information to Member States through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and also kept in touch with the competent authorities in third countries providing a clear picture to our trade partners. Commission officials met with stakeholders in the fats and oils industry to explore ways of further strengthening the monitoring of dioxin in feed. I was in constant contact with the competent political authorities of Germany.

The lessons learned? This autumn we adopted additional measures, which will help us further reduce the possibility of incidents in the future. One of these measures, for instance, provides for the segregation of the production of fats and oils intended for feed and food purposes from the production of fats and oils for technical uses.

While the dioxin crisis was triggered when it became known that maximum safety levels have been exceeded without any actual harmful consequences documented, the E.Coli crisis caused death and permanent disability apart from vast economic damage.

In this case the Commission immediately activated the RASFF and the Early Warning and Response System (EWRS), which deals with public health alerts. In order to ensure co-ordination and clear lines of communication, it held meetings with EU scientific bodies and public health and food safety Authorities almost on a daily basis. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was asked to carry out a risk assessment, which it completed in only two days.
The assistance of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) experts in co-ordinating investigations carried out by the Member State Authorities was crucial in identifying sprouted seeds as the source of the outbreak. Actions taken by our EU Reference Laboratory in Rome also bore fruit quickly. Within a week, the Laboratory developed a method to reduce the time needed to detect the E. Coli bacterium in food from about six days to 48 hours.

Finally, let’s not forget the tremendous efforts undertaken to convince those of our trading partners, which took disproportionate measures against EU products, to opt for a more appropriate response.
This crisis drove us to achieve some remarkable results through hard, excellent work but it is never enough. For instance, we must, and we will, identify what remedial action can be taken to ensure the better use of the tools at our disposal for a better assessment of outbreak
situations and to improve communication of health concerns. This will help us to avoid considerable economic losses, which such outbreaks can cause.

We will continue to apply the principle " prevention is better than the cure " on which the entire EU food safety legislative framework rests. We will keep addressing risks to animal and plant health, and consequently to human health, by taking preventive action, by promoting monitoring and surveillance, by ensuring the rapid exchange of accurate information and by further harmonising controls throughout the food chain.

Let’s be clear about one thing - we will continue to experience food crisis within the EU. Events outside the EU will continue to trigger our prevention and precautionary mechanisms as happened following the Fukushima nuclear incident in Japan.
I think that throughout the years the EU has demonstrated in practice both the effectiveness of its response and its openness to learn useful lessons. Over the years, we have managed to build atruly robust system that protects the mostimportant quality of our food - its safety.

John DALLI
European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy