EU Legislation regarding Salmonella in food animal production.

Salmonella is classified as a zoonosis, which is a disease agent transmissible between animals and man.

The first European Union legislation for controlling several zoonotic diseases came in 1992 with Council Directive 92/117EEC. Data was collected in all EU countries on zoonotic diseases in production animals, and control programmes initiated in breeding poultry for Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium. An evaluation of the control programmes after a decade indicated that the control of the breeding poultry did not result in any decrease in Salmonella in the production birds, and the EU decided to extend the control measures to other production categories of poultry, and also lay down foundation for introducing controls in other production animals, such as turkeys and pigs.

The old directive 92/117/EEC was replaced by EU Regulation 2160/2003 that obliges farmers and member state authorities to work together to reduce Salmonella, especially serotypes of public health significance, such as S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium.

EU Directive 2003/99/EC on the monitoring of zoonoses and zoonotic agents improved the old data collection system for zoonotic agents, including Salmonella. Two EU institutions, The European Public Health Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), collate data, publishing summaries, and advise on harmonized procedures for sampling and testing.

The annual reports of the Member States and the European Community summary reports, can be accessed on the website EFSA. EFSA also evaluated risks associated with Salmonella in food production animals, and the optimal control programmes.

http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/science/monitoring_zoonoses/reports.html

There are general legislation of Public Health that legislates that Salmonella should not be found in food. The EU Food Hygiene Regulation 852/2004/EC, on the hygiene of food stuffs states that the responsibility for the production of safe food lies with the food business operator and this includes the primary animal producer up through the food chain to the consumer; a farm-to-fork approach. Regulation 2073/2005/EC on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs has stringent rules on the absence of Salmonella in certain food products. The criteria apply during the whole shelf life and products must be withdrawn from the market if they do not comply.

There are also specific legislation that describes control programmes. The European Union has three regulations for reducing and controlling the prevalence of Salmonella in:

- breeding poultry: 1003/2005/EC

- broilers: 1168/2006/EC

- layers: 1177/2006/EC

- turkeys: 584/2008/EC

Targets for reduction of the prevalence of Salmonella in herds of slaughter and breeding pigs will be established at the end of 2009 and will apply to all Salmonella serotypes with public health significance. Strategies and reduction goals vary between countries depending how much Salmonella there is in the production animals.