Food Law News - EU - 2015
Council Minutes, 14 December 2015
CONTAMINANTS - Food hygiene - Testing of arsenic, heavy metals and aromatic hydrocarbons: Council discussions
The following is an extract from the minutes of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on the 14th December.
The Council decided not to oppose the adoption of the a Commission regulation amending regulation 333/2007 as regards the analysis of inorganic arsenic, lead and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and certain performance criteria for analysis (13778/15).
Regulation 333/20071 lays down the methods of sampling and analysis for the official control of levels of certain contaminants in foodstuffs. This amendment provides several technical adjustments, in particular:
- specific procedures related to analysis for inorganic arsenic.
- an update the reference to the EN standard 13804.
- a change for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.
- an amendment regarding the limit of detection for certain heavy metals;
This Commission regulation is subject to the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. This means that now that the Council has given its consent, the Commission may adopt the regulation, unless the European Parliament objects.