Food Law News - EU - 1999

3 February 1999: FOOD IRRADIATION - More details of Agreement on the Treatment of Food and Food Ingredients with Ionizing Radiation (8 December 1998)

EU Press Release (PRES/98/438), 3 February 1999

Parliament-Council Conciliation Committee - Agreement on the Treatment of Food and Food Ingredients with Ionizing Radiation (8 December 1998)

This is the text of a Press Release issued on the 2 February but relating to discussion in December 1998. For more details, see 27 January 1999 and 9 December 1998.

Community rules on the sensitive issue of treating foodstuffs and food ingredients with ionizing radiation have today been agreed between the two branches of the Community's legislative authority, i.e. the European Parliament and the Council.

Meeting in the conciliation committee, the delegations of the two institutions agreed on

• a framework Directive laying down general provisions such as the conditions for treatment, the rules governing the approval and control of irradiation facilities, and labelling;
• an implementing Directive listing the foodstuffs which can be treated with ionizing radiation.

As soon as the texts have been finalized in the official Community languages, each institution will have six weeks to confirm the agreement definitively - by an absolute majority of the votes cast in the case of the Parliament, and by qualified majority in the case of the Council - subject to which the new directives will be adopted. The Italian delegation has indicated that it will vote against.

Food irradiation is a physical method of processing food, similar to methods such as heat treatment, freezing or addition of additives.

The Commission's proposal - initially a single text - was presented 10 years ago in December 1988. Its main objective has always been to establish the internal market in this area, as some Member States currently authorize the irradiation of foods and food ingredients whilst others prohibit it. Today's agreement provides for a harmonized approach as to the principles governing irradiation; in contrast, harmonization of the list of foods and food ingredients that may be treated by this method will only be achieved in stages.

The framework Directive applies to the manufacture, marketing and importation of foods and food ingredients. Food irradiation may be authorized only if:

• there is a reasonable technological need;
• it presents no health hazard and is carried out under the conditions proposed;
• it is of benefit to the consumer;
• it is not used as a substitute for hygiene and health practices or for good manufacturing or agricultural practice.

Food irradiation may be used only for the following purposes:

• to reduce the incidence of food-borne disease by destroying pathogenic organisms;
• to reduce spoilage of foodstuffs by retarding or arresting decay processes and destroying spoilage organisms;
• to reduce loss of foodstuffs by premature ripening, germination or sprouting;
• to rid foodstuffs of organisms harmful to plant or plant products.

The treatment of foodstuffs or ingredients with ionizing radiation - even when such an ingredient constitutes less than 1% of the finished product - will always have to be mentioned on the label; for products sold in bulk, the words “irradiated” or "treated with ionizing radiation" must appear on a display or notice.

The purpose of the implementing Directive is to establish a positive list of foodstuffs which may be treated with ionizing radiation.

The initial Community list, together with the maximum doses authorized for this purpose, is limited to dried aromatic herbs, spices and vegetable seasonings. Such products, if not treated, are frequently contaminated and/or infested with organisms harmful to human health, and the alternative form of treatment by using fumigants is no longer allowed because of the toxic potential of their residues.

The complete list will be established in stages, with the Commission submitting proposals (to the European Parliament and the Council which will decide under the codecision prodedure), after examination of the national authorizations in force and after consultation of the Scientific Committee for Food. By 31.12.2002 at the latest, the Commission will submit a proposal intended to establish the final positive list.

Full harmonization will therefore be achieved only with the entry into force of the final positive list. Until that date, Member States can maintain existing authorizations concerning the treatment of foodstuffs with ionizing radiation provided that

• the treatment of the foodstuff concerned has been subject to a favourable opinion of the Scientific Committee for Food;
• the overall average absorbed radiation dose does not exceed the limit values recommended by the Scientific Committee for Food;
• ionizing radiation and placing on the market are effected in accordance with the framework Directive;
• such authorizations are notified to the Commission and the other Member States.

Likewise, Member States may, in compliance with the rules of the Treaty continue to apply existing national restrictions or bans on ionizing radiation of foodstuffs and food ingredients and on trade in irradiated foodstuffs as long as the foodstuff or food ingredient does not appear on the positive list established by the implementing Directive.

The following transposition periods apply: Member States have 18 months to adapt their legislation in such a way as to permit the marketing and use of irradiated foodstuffs, and a period of grace of 24 months to prohibit the marketing and use of irradiated foodstuffs not complying with the framework Directive. As for the initial list refered to above, the transposition period is again 18 months.

The European Parliament, on second reading, had adopted 14 amendments, three of them to the implementing Directive.

A number of amendments clarifying the text of the framework Directive and making it more specific were accepted by the Council. An amendment halving the grace period for prohibition of irradiated foodstuffs not complying with the Directive to 12 months was withdrawn by the Parliament during conciliation (as stated above 18 months are allowed for incorporation of the Directive into national legislation). This left three groups of amendments touching upon more difficult issues:

• The European Parliament wanted to be involved every time the Scientific Committee for food is consulted on matters likely to have an effect on public health. This was rejected: the consultation of the committee must not be confused with the legislative process for which Parliament is responsible together with the Council.
• Parliament wanted to remove the possibility for the Commission to take decisions - after consultation of the Standing Committee for Foodstuffs - in the light of safeguard measures adopted by the Member States. Again, this was not accepted in the final instance as it would have breached a well established principle applied in a wide range of areas.
• Finally, the European Parliament wanted the Directives to contain purely technical requirements, in particular specific analytical test methods for the detection of food treated with ionizing radiation. In response to this, the Commission and the Council pointed out that the general aspects of inspections are covered by the horizontal Directives on the official control of foodstuffs (Directives 89/397/EEC and 93/99/EEC). These impose no specific analytical methods because it would be inappropriate to tie legislation to certain test procedures which may quickly be overtaken by scientific progress. In the end it was agreed that Member States shall ensure that the methods used to detect treatment with ionizing radiation are standardized or validated up to 1 January 2003 at the latest.