EU inspectors tell Argentina to improve egg export standards

European Union inspectors have told authorities in Argentina that standards must be improved if they want to continue exporting egg products to Europe.

The South American republic is one country outside the EU from which egg products can be imported into the 27 member states, although under the agreement that allows such imports the European Union is able to carry out inspections to ensure that producers comply with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules. Inspectors made the first such visit to Argentina this year, and they have reported that improvements need to be made to bring the county's systems up to a standard acceptable to the EU.

In their report, the inspectors said, "The objective of this audit was to assess the performance of the competent authority with regard to supervision of public health conditions of the production of egg products destined for export to the EU. The report concludes that the system of official controls in place is based on regular controls at establishment level, including permanent presence of official veterinarian services at establishments during production. However, the effectiveness of this system is compromised by the several deficiencies detected by the audit team."

Argentina, which according to International Egg Commission statistics had 41.5 million laying hens in 2011, nearly all of them in cages, exported 2,797 tonnes of egg powder to the European Union in that year. Exports increased to 3,753 tonnes the following year. According to the EU inspectors report, which was produced by the European Commission's Health and Consumers directorate, most of the Argentinian exports went to five countries - Austria, Germany, Denmark, Italy and Sweden.

The inspectors said that Argentinian legislation governing exports to the European Union were broadly acceptable. A national decree required that exporting establishments should meet the conditions and requirements of the country of destination or those accepted as equivalent. They said that several resolutions, circulars and service orders had been issued to ensure proper implementation of the legislation in the production of egg products. However, they said that there were a number of deficiencies in the system of controls used in the country's egg industry. The EU auditors listed the deficiencies.

Their first criticism was that there was no documented evidence that the 'competent authority' assessed all EU requirements. They pointed specifically to the requirement for Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) planning and implementation.

They said that deficiencies in visits to production establishments to check sanitary conditions and hygiene practices had not been detected or recorded in any official control report. This, they said, demonstrated that monitoring of ongoing compliance was not entirely effective.

The inspectors said there were weaknesses in certification procedures and deficiencies in sampling of egg products for microbiological analyses and organic acids by both official authorities and the operators of the egg businesses themselves.

At the end of their report the European Union auditors outlined a number of recommendations that should be met for Argentina to be able to continue exporting its egg products to the EU. They called on the Argentinian authorities to produce an action plan, including a timetable, to address the inspectors' concerns.

The auditors said that Argentina needed to ensure that staff carrying out official controls on egg products destined for the European Union had adequate knowledge of EU legislation - particularly the legislation covering the sampling of egg products for microbiological analysis and organic acids.

They said there was a need to demonstrate that only establishments with all standards equivalent to those of the EU, notably HACCP planning and implementation, were approved for the export of egg products to the union's member states.

Argentinian authorities needed to ensure, they said, that the deficiencies recorded by the audit team were corrected in the establishments the inspectors had visited and that they were not present in other approved establishments.

The report pointed to the need for an assurance that eggs going into egg products destined for the EU were disinfected to avoid contamination, in line with EU requirements. Disinfected eggs should be rinsed with potable water and adequately dried before breaking, said the report.

Egg product sampling for official microbiological analysis needed to be brought into line with EU requirements, egg product samples had to be taken and analysed for organic acids and quantity of extraneous materials, and certification procedures for exports had to comply with EU directives, said the inspectors in their recommendations.

The audit was conducted by inspectors from the European Commission's Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), which is responsible for checking on compliance with the requirements of EU food safety and quality, animal health and welfare and plant health legislation within the European Union as well as compliance with EU import requirements in third countries exporting to the EU. The FVO also contributes to the development of EU policy on the food safety and is involved in the development and implementation of effective control systems to ensure food safety.

The Argentinian audit took place between April 22 and May 3 this year and was carried out by two inspectors from the FVO, who were accompanied by representatives from the Argentinian authorities.