Food Safety in Europe

“Even though not all European countries are part of the EU, the EU and the entire continent of Europe are nearly synonyms in terms of food safety ambitions, if you exclude Russia,” says Ivar Vågsholm, DVM, PhD, a professor of food safety in the Department of Biomedicine and Veterinary Public Health at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.

Emphasizing that he does not speak for Russia, Dr. Vågsholm explains that it appears that Russia puts more emphasis on testing finished foods rather than on process control during food production, the latter being more commonplace in the rest of Europe. “This highlights the need for discussions on equivalence between the two food safety philosophies,” he emphasizes.

Dr. Vågsholm believes the strengths of the European food system include a holistic approach from farm to fork, separation of risk assessment and management, and prohibition of animal feed antibiotics. “The same system applies in the whole of the EU, as well as in neighboring closely associated third countries, including my native Norway, Switzerland, and Serbia,” he says.

Topping the list of weaknesses in the European food system, Dr. Vågsholm purports, is the large and long movements of live animals for slaughter, which results in animal welfare concerns and rapid spread of animal diseases. “These issues include long transportation times resulting in stress of animals, and larger risks of spreading diseases, such as classical swine fever,” he says. “Other problems include the still too high consumption of antibiotics by food animals, although zoo-technical or growth promoting use is prohibited. One explanation of this high consumption of antibiotics could be the sale of drugs constituting a major part of veterinary income in many parts of the EU.”

Bad Bugs

The main food safety issues in the EU, Dr. Vågsholm says, relate to foodborne Campylobacterand Salmonella, while an emerging issue is antimicrobial resistant bacteria as a foodborne hazard, based on findings of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing E. coli in broilers and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection amongst pigs.

Of note, studies from the Netherlands have found clonally related ESBL-producing E. coli and similar plasmids in broilers, broiler meat, and humans, suggesting broiler meat as a source of ESBL-producing E. coli causing infection in humans.

“MRSA is more of an occupational health problem for people working with pigs and possibly also an environmental health problem, rather than a foodborne risk, at least according to press reports on pig farmers that are put in isolation if hospitalized due to the risk of resistant bacteria,” Dr. Vågsholm points out.

From a human disease burden perspective, Listeria and Toxoplasma are also a concern, Dr. Vågsholm says, adding that enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) has been an issue associated with large outbreaks linked to sprouted seeds and to beef, both uncooked and undercooked.

According to Dr. Vågsholm, Salmonella is dealt with using binding microbiological end product criteria (absence in 25 grams) in foodstuffs (as per Regulation EU 2073/2005). “In primary production, Salmonella is dealt with by formulating targets for acceptable prevalence in flocks or at slaughter for broilers, turkeys, and layers,” he relates. “There may soon be regulatory targets for acceptable prevalence in slaughter pigs either at the slaughter house or at herd level, depending on the assessment of benefits and costs and political priorities.”

Campylobacter is addressed by using various national guidelines, along with catering and consumer recommendations for kitchen hygiene and cooking. “In the Nordic countries and the Netherlands there are initiatives for Campylobacter control, but there are no binding EU community regulations thus far,” Dr. Vågsholm says. “There are ongoing discussions by the EU member states and the EC on the issue of establishing regulations for Campylobacter, however.”