Newcomers to EU bloc 'on course', says Byrne

On 1 May the food industry will serve 456 European consumers, up from the current 382 million 'share of the throat'. Food safety is a key criteria for the food scare weary consumer and a major challenge for governments and industry alike. Byrne is optimistic. "Major progress has been made as a result of strong collaboration between the European Commission and the competent authorities of the new Member States, " the Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner said yesterday. But he acknowledged that 'some food establishments' - processing plants, dairies and abattoirs - will need transitional time to finish upgrading their standards. In order to allay concerns from consumers he added that their products would only be sold on the domestic market of the new Member States concerned. The EU-15 agreed today to the final list of establishments which will benefit from such an upgrading period. In all, 1006 food processing establishments have been granted transition periods, roughly representing 8 per cent of the total number of 12,000 food processing establishments in these countries. "The new Member States are also gearing up well to implement EU food safety law. They have set up national surveillance networks on food and feed safety that will link in with the EU's rapid alert system in this area," said the Commission in a statement. According to Brussels, the accession countries have upgraded their food and veterinary laboratories, streamlined the organisation of their food and feed control systems, started control of GM-food, trained their inspectors, laboratory staff and also their food operators in various aspects of food law and, 'in general, greatly improved standards in their food processing establishments'.

Newcomers to EU bloc 'on course', says Byrne

The 10 new Member States due to join the EU are on course to meet the EU's food safety standards, said Commissioner David Byrne, on the same day the EU's sugar confectionery body predicts soaring sugar rises in the zone.

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