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Food Safety

Better trainingfor safer food

ANNUAL REPORT 2018

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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2019

© European Union, 2019Reuse is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The reuse policy of European Commission documents is regulated by Decision 2011/833/EU (OJ L 330, 14.12.2011, p. 39).For any use or reproduction of photos or other material that is not under the copyright of the European Union, per-mission must be sought directly from the copyright holders.

Print ISBN 978-92-9478-429-2 ISSN 1831-1385 doi : 10.2818/688714 EB-AD-19-001-EN-C

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Better Trainingfor Safer FoodANNUAL REPORT 2018

ABP Animal by-products

AHL Animal Health Law

AMR Antimicrobial Resistance

ASF African Swine Fever

BIP Border Inspection Post

BTSF Better Training for Safer Food

Chafea Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency

Codex Codex Alimentarius Commission

DG SANTE European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety

DG SANTE F Health and Food Audits and Analysis

ECDC European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

EFSA European Food Safety Authority

EFTA European Free Trade Association

ENP European Neighbourhood Policy

EMA European Medicines Agency

EPPO European Plant Protection Organisation

HACCP Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points Principles

IPM Integrated Pest Management

IPPC International Plant Protection Convention

ISO International Organisation for Standardisation

ISPMs International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures

ISSB International Standard-Setting Bodies

JRC Joint Research Centre

LMS Learning Management System

NCP National Contact Point

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

NRMP National Residue Monitoring Plan

OIE World Organisation for Animal Health

PAE Pesticide Application Equipment

PPP Plant Protection Products

RASFF Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed

SPS Sanitary and Phytosanitary

STM Sustained Training Mission

SUD Sustainable Use Directive

SWOT Strenghts, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats

TRACES Trade Control and Expert System

TSE Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies

VMP Veterinary Medicinal Products

acronyms

Annual Report 2018 5

table of contentsintrodUCtion 9

BTSF HELPS PEOPLE, BUSINESS AND TrADITIONS THrIvE 9

BTSF’S SCOPE: WHEN IT’S GOOD TO GO BEYOND ExPIRATION DATES 9

MOrE kNOWLEDgE, MOrE SECUrITY – IN THE EU AND BEYOND 10

A MILESTONE TO MArk! E-LEArNINg PrOgrAMME SUrPASSES 10,000 ENrOLMENTS 11

CONTINUING TO MAkE THINGS EASIER AND MORE EFFICIENT 11

WOULD YOU LIkE TO PARTICIPATE IN BTSF? 11

training HeLd in eU 12

ANIMAL DISEASE PREPAREDNESS 13

ANIMAL NUTRITION 14

ANIMAL WELFARE 15

ANTIMICrOBIAL rESISTANCE (AMr) – THE ONE HEALTH APPrOACH 16

AUDIT SYSTEMS AND INTERNAL AUDITING 16

BOrDEr INSPECTION POSTS (BIPS) 17

CONTROL ON CONTAMINANTS IN FEED AND FOOD 17

EU SANITARY AND PHYTOSANITARY LAW ENFORCEMENT 18

FOOD CONTACT MATERIALS 19

FOOD HYGIENE AND FLExIBILITY 20

FOOD HYGIENE AND PRIMARY PRODUCTION 20

FOOD INFO AND COMPOSITION 21

HACCP PRINCIPLES AND AUDIT TECHNIQUES 21

INSPECTION AND CALIBRATION OF PESTICIDE APPLICATION EQUIPMENT 22

INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT 23

MICROBIOLOGICAL CRITERIA AND ON THE MONITORING AND CONTROL OF zOONOSES ANS zOONOTIC AGENTS 24

MOVEMENTS OF DOGS AND CATS 25

NEW INVESTIGATION TECHNIQUES FOR OFFICIAL CONTROLS ALONG THE FOOD CHAIN NEW 26

ORGANIC FARMING SCHEME 26

PLANT HEALTH CONTROLS 27

PrEPArEDNESS AND MANAgEMENT OF FOOD-BOrNE OUTBrEAkS 27

PLANT HEALTH SURVEYS 28

PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF FOOD SAFETY RISk ASSESSMENT 29

PrOTECTED DESIgNATIONS SCHEMES (PDO, PgI, TSg, gI) 30

STRENGHENING IMPACT OF UNION OVERWIEW REPORTS 30

THE TrADE CONTrOL AND ExPErT SYSTEM (TrACES) 31

training HeLd oUtside tHe eU 33

BTSF WORLD 34

FOOD TESTING 38

GMO ANALYSIS 38

UNION INFOrMATION MANAgEMENT SYSTEMS FOr OFFICIAL CONTrOLS ON THE SANITArY AND PHYTOSANITArY FIELDS- TrACES 39

ANTIMICrOBIAL rESISTANCE (AMr) IN CONTExT OF AN OvErALL “ONE HEALTH” APPrOACH IN NON–EU COUNTrIES 40

RISk ANALYSIS 41

BTSF AcAdemy e-leArning courSeS 42

Btsf ContraCtors in 2018 45

PArTiciPAnTS Per TrAining ProgrAmme in 2018 (eu counTrieS) 46

numBer oF TrAining SeSSionS in 2018 (eu TrAiningS) 47

PartiCiPants Per training Programme in non eU CoUntries in 2018 48

BTSF TrAiningS in 2018, BreAkdown By origin oF PArTiciPAnTS (eu counTrieS) 49

BTSF TrAiningS in 2018, BreAkdown By origin oF PArTiciPAnTS (gloBAl) 49

ProgreSS rePorT on enrolmenTS And PArTiciPATion in The Period 2014-2018 50

e-leArning By courSe in 2018 50

e-leArning By counTry in 2018 51

nationaL ContaCt Points 52

PartiCiPants 53

get invoLved 53

Btsf HeLPs PeoPLe, BUsiness and traditions to tHrive!

The European Commission’s Better Training for Safer Food (BTSF) initiative provides a strategy for training in the areas of food law, feed law, animal health and animal welfare rules and plant health rules. The framework for the initiative was set up by the European Commission’s Directorate-general for Health and Food Safety, which designed the overall strategy and policies and provided input on the content of the training projects. The Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (Chafea) puts these plans into action and manages every phase of the BTSF initiative from launching the calls for tender to evaluating the offers, awarding contracts, and supervising the train-ings’ implementation.

BTSF has been going strong since 2005, when it was launched on the legal basis of Article 51 of regulation (EC) No 882/2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules. In that span of time, the programme went from offering seven trainings in its first year to around 150 trainings in the both EU and non-EU countries in 2018 for some 5 500 participants in total.Training is designed primarily for the staff of competent authorities of Member States involved in official control ac-tivities, but it is also essential that non-EU countries, particularly developing countries, are familiar with EU import re-quirements. Whether inside or outside of the EU, courses are designed to keep people current on all relevant aspects of Community law and to help them ensure that controls are carried out in a more uniform, objective and adequate manner. This not only protects the consumer, but it protects business too, by helping maintain fair trade and a more level playing field.

Courses vary in content and length, but all are taught by experts in their field at locations that were selected for being easy to access and fit-to-purpose with the entire necessary infrastructure. Many courses involve both theoretical and practical elements, and they all aim to the ‘train the trainer’, meaning that participants will leave with knowledge they can readily and accurately share with others.

The “Better Training for Safer Food” is a Community training strategy that:• Promotes a harmonised and efficient approach to the operation of Union and national control systems;• Maintains a high level of consumer protection and of animal health, animal welfare and plant health;• Creates an equal level playing field for all food businesses;• Enhances the trade of safe food;• Ensures fair trade with non-EU countries and, in particular, developing countries.

Btsf’s scope: When it’s good to go beyond expiration dates!

When the average person on the street thinks about food safety, they might think of expiration dates and bacterial contamination. Has that chicken they bought two days ago past its ‘best by date?’ Did their food server wash their hands before preparing their salad? But they might not think further than expiration dates or the cleanliness of their counters, when in fact, a myriad of things can impact plant, animal and human health. Things like the safety of the fertiliser used on the soil, the health of beef and dairy cows and the way in which they are transported, packaging composition and storage conditions.

Many players are involved in the food chain, from the people who set out the seeds in the fields to the people who set the plates on tables at home or in restaurants. All of them share the responsibility of minimising risks and keeping plants and people safe, and to live up to that responsibility, they need knowledge.

introduction


Old school knowledge doesn’t make the grade either – globalisation might bring out-of-season fruit to our grocery aisles and new tastes to our table, but it also makes the food supply chain increasingly complex and makes it even harder to guarantee food safety.

more knowledge, more security – in the eU and beyond

BTSF initiatives do not just protect the consumer whose concerns may be limited to not surpassing expiration dates or contracting salmonella, they also protect everyone along the production chain whose lives depend on successful trade. That means everyone along the farm-to-fork production line, including those who want to continue following family and cultural traditions in the way they produce food and beverages like cheese, sausage, fish products, olives, jams, baked goods, beer and wine. Every step along this chain can impact health, and BTSF plays an important role in spreading knowledge and awareness of EU legislation and in ensuring harmonisation and uniformity of controls across the EU. Efficient and uniform controls are not only essential to maintaining high levels of consumer protection, animal health and welfare and plant health, but they also provide a level playing field for food businesses. Harmo-nising controls makes it more likely that businesses will be treated equally wherever controls are carried out, which in turn facilitates fair trade. The even enforcement of legislation is also essential if the EU’s internal market is to function properly. Why has BTSF spread such a large net? Because we are all in this together. If we’re not all playing by the same rules, adhering to the same high standards, and taking responsibility for plants, animals and people, we will all pay the price.

Much of our food comes from countries outside the EU, particularly from developing countries. BTSF targeted training makes it easier to detect fraud and non-compliance on the EU market but also at its borders, which helps to provide even greater protection to human, animal and plant health. But it goes the other way too - EU rules also protect interests outside of the EU. Imagine what happens to non-EU farmers when their goods are rejected at EU borders due to non-compliance of regulations. They lose money and time, and possibly even their livelihoods. The fact that food consignments are still being rejected at EU borders is a clear indication that the EU’s trading partners need to be better informed about EU rules. With up-to-date information, they can conduct their own checklists and ensure that the food, plants or feedstuffs they want to sell to the EU will end up reaching paying customers. BTSF keeps business fair and attractive, for people on both sides of the borders and on both sides of the till.

Lest the mention of cash registers make you think it’s all about the money, that’s far from the truth. Economic health is certainly important, but when it comes to consumables, wealth does equal health. The grower, shipper, buyer or seller of goods that make people ill is soon going to face serious financial consequences: we all know what a single case of salmonella at a restraint chain can do to its business. BTSF training seeks to make a concrete contribution to increasing health, safety and worldwide consumer confidence. It also strives to ensure that consumers in non-EU countries and in the EU can benefit from access to a wide range of safe foods.


Last but not least, the involvement of non-EU countries in BTSF training programmes plays an important role in building trust in the EU’s regulatory model with the competent authorities of other international trade partners. It also helps open up new food market opportunities and makes EU operators more competitive, which is great for business and consumers alike.

a milestone to mark! e-learning programme surpasses 10,000 enrolments

The e-learning pilot project continued to grow in 2018, with 10 available e-learning modules modules in 5 languages (English, French, german, Spanish and Portuguese) and a global participation of more than 10,000 enrolments. The participation in the e-learning modules has been broadening with more than 45 countries coming from EU Member States and non EU countries. Over the year, Dg SANTE and Chafea continued to work on developing a dedicated BTSF platform for professional BTSF-related social exchange. This platform will promote knowledge sharing by encour-aging alumni and other groups involved in BTSF to form networks. BTSF training materials will also be available on the platform, and users will be encouraged to make use of this information and to share it. BTSF Academy will be an online learning management system (LMS) that will integrate different means of disseminating information and host and moderate the BTSF e-learning modules in order to make the content of specifically developed training tools available to a wide range of stakeholders.

continuing to make things easier and more efficient

BTSF is continually developing new tools to help make organising and participating in training sessions easier and to ensure that courses continue to deliver valuable and up-to-date information. Contractors, for example, can now make use of a set format for invitation letters and participant application forms, making it easier to navigate and ensuring a more systematic communication flow between contractors and NCPs.New performance indicators for all activities were implemented to help better assess BTSF’s impact on the perfor-mance of control staff. These indicators looked at how much the training courses have increased the staff’s knowl-edge, how staff apply their new knowledge at the workplace and how effectively they share this knowledge with their colleagues.

A new post-ex study of the BTSF initiative was launched in 2018 to ensure that BTSF continues to meet its objectives and that public money used for its funding is well spent. The purpose of the study is to inform the Commission on the impact of the BTSF programme to date, based on the development of a robust model to measure the cost effec-tiveness of the training model and its impact (including key performance indicators), and to analyse several possible alternative ways to providing training, which could be used in a single or in a mixed model format (SWOT analysis).

Would you like to participate in Btsf?

BTSF trainers don’t want to keep their knowledge to themselves, they want to share it, and they want the people they share it with to pass it on too. This train-the-trainer approach means that the impact of BTSF training programmes goes much farther than can even be measured.

How can you become involved? Competent authority staff interested in participating in trainings should contact their BTSF national contact points (NCP), which have been designated for EU Member States, Candidate and Associated Countries and some other non-EU countries. These contact points serve to centralise information on BTSF, make it available to the relevant authorities in their countries, and ensure the smooth coordination of things like participant selection. Interested authorities from non-EU countries could also refer to the EU delegations in their country if no NCP has been designated or directly contact the contractor of the activity they’d like to take part in.

And if you’re a contractor interested in helping to organise training sessions, you might want to start by attending an Info Day where you can get more information about BTSF and meet face to face with representatives from DG SANTE and Chafea who manage the initiative. If it’s impossible to attend an Info Day in person, you can also find information on e-tendering and the BTSF online, on the BTSF webpages, which can be found via the websites of both Chafea and DG SANTE (The European Commission’s Directorate General for Health and Food Safety).


training HeLd in eUCoUntries National authorities have their own training programmes on performing control duties, but BTSF complements this national training with courses that focus on issues of special interest to the EU and bringing EU-added value to more local efforts.

BTSF training is designed to keep all staff of competent authorities of Member States involved in official control ac-tivities up to date with all relevant aspects of European law and to ensure that they share a common understanding of the regulatory system. Having uniform controls raises the level of consumer protection and makes for a more efficient internal market.

BTSF also offers useful networking opportunities for national officials. Contractors develop specific tools to facilitate further dissemination of the training at national level (e.g. such as producing materials like leaflets about the course’s main take-away, course summaries, training packages with links to the training sessions, a USB key with the training contents, a syllabus of the training sessions including relevant questions and answers and audio and video recordings of the training sessions).

animaL disease PreParedness

THE ISSUE: The EU Animal Health Strategy and Action Plan indicated that there is a need to move toward a pol-icy oriented on effective risk management/disease prevention and to promote initiatives to improve preparedness against major threats to animal health. In the last decade the European Union and the whole European region have experienced serious animal disease emergencies such as foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever and avian influenza. Preparation, early warning, contingency planning exercise and implementation of emergency preparedness should be regarded as among the key elements in mounting early effective action in the face of an emergency.

COURSE CONTENT: The aim of the activity is to provide for a common understanding of the current state of play of tools suitable for addressing emerging animal diseases (including zoonoses), and the related early reaction veterinary interventions. These training courses address the specific requirements for prevention, surveillance and early warning, for contingency planning, vaccine banks and simulation exercises, for awareness raising, partnership and networking, for best practices for preparedness and application of the contingency plan. The trainings pave the way for a new generation of contingency planning under the “Animal Health Law”,AHL, which is more modern, less bureaucratic and more operational, making the best use of modern IT tools.

FOUR 4-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 110

HOST COUNTRIES: 4 (BULGARIA, ITALY, LATVIA, THE NETHERLANDS)


animaL nUtrition

THE ISSUE: One of the most important activity sectors in agriculture is the production of animal feed. Approximately 230 million tons of feed stuff (excluding roughage) are fed annually to farm animals in the EU. Initially the rules on animal feed from the 1970s emphasized the productivity of livestock farming, but the emphasis has shifted towards the protection of human and animal health, animal welfare and the environment. The European Union has developed a wide range of measures aimed at ensuring feed safety at all stages that may have an impact on feed and food safety, including primary production.

Regulation (EC) No 183/2005 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down requirements for feed hygiene introduces additional requirements which play a key role for ensuring feed safety along the food chain. In this context, and after 4 years of training experience in this field, the Commission considers it important to continue training courses at EU level, in particular for staff of the competent authorities of Member States involved in official controls in the field of animal nutritionThe aim of the training is to spread knowledge and best practices in order to increase expertise in feed safety issues concerning all stages of production, processing and distribution of feed, including some on-site inspections of estab-lishments that produce this type of product..

COURSE CONTENT: Both general training for feed control staff on the EU legislation on feed and specific training for feed control staff on EU feed hygiene rules and HACCP auditing are provided. Numerous topics are covered, including legislative requirements concerning feed hygiene, raw or processed materials intended for use as animal feed or for manufacturing compound feeding stuffs; the authorisation, supervision and labelling of feed additives; and materials whose circulation or use for animal nutrition purposes is prohibited. Legislative requirements for the marketing and labelling of feeding stuffs intended for particular nutritional purposes, for medicated feed and for undesirable sub-stances will also be covered. Participants will go over the authorisation of new genetically modified food and feed, traceability and labelling of genetically modified organisms and traceability of food and feed products produced from genetically modified organisms and the identification of risks associated with biological and chemical contam-inants along the feed chain that may influence food and feed safety, animal health and animal welfare. Other topics include but are not limited to primary production and inspections in manufacturing establishments, planning and supervision of official controls, sampling methods, guidance on prioritising hazards in feed, the assessment of auto-control systems of the feed business operators, and all aspects of auditing from planning to follow-up.

SEVEN-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 207

HOST COUNTRIES: 6 (GERMANY, HUNGARY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, SPAIN, THE NETHERLANDS (2))

animaL WeLfare

THE ISSUE: The EU legislation on the protection of animals on the farm aims to ensure that animal are kept and raised that respects their physiological needs and minimises painful practices. This applies to caring for farm animals throughout their life span. EU legislation on slaughtering practices aims to minimise the pain and suffering of animals through the use of proper approved methods to stun and kill animals, based on scientific knowledge and practical experience. The Commission considers it important to continue training courses at EU level in the areas of animal welfare issues in view of developing best practices and compliance with the EU and international standards.

COURSE CONTENT: The aim of the activity is to provide trainings on animal welfare in poultry productions (laying hens and chickens kept for meat production), animal welfare in pig production, animal welfare at the time of killing and animal welfare during transport. More specifically, the trainings on animal welfare at the time of killing and on animal welfare during transport are organised at both basic and advanced levels.

Course 1 includes information on EU legal requirements concerning the proper housing, management, handling and transport of poultry, on the assessment of farming systems, including cages and alternative systems for hens and monitoring at slaughterhouses for broilers, animal welfare outcomes (practical experience on farms/at slaughter-houses) and how to conduct efficient inspections at farm level, and to set up and monitor data collection system for broilers.

While Course 2 provides information on relevant AW EU legislation on pigs production, the scientific approach on proper pig housing and management and measures to carry out efficient inspections at farm level. Courses 3 and 4 on animal welfare at the time of killing and on animal welfare during transport aim to provide information at both a basic and an advanced level. They will in particular consist of one basic level session and two advanced level sessions for both courses 3 and 4.

FIVE 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WEREORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 148

HOST COUNTRIES: 4 (GERMANY, GREECE,POLAND, SWEDEN (2))

Annual Report 2018 14 Annual Report 2018 15

antimiCroBiaL resistanCe (amr) - tHe one-HeaLtH aPProaCH

THE ISSUE: Due to the overuse of antimicrobials in hu-man and veterinary medicine, the spread of resistant microorganisms has accelerated to the point where drug-resistant infections now result in an estimated 25,000 patient deaths per year and 1.5Bn€ in healthcare costs and productivity losses in the EU.

The Commission therefore strongly advocates and sup-ports the prevention and control of AMR across the hu-man, veterinary and food sectors, as well as the research and development of new antimicrobial agents. In the EU, monitoring and surveillance of AMR and antimicrobial consumption are currently coordinated by the three EU agencies operating in the areas of human health, food safety and pharmaceuticals: the European Centre for Dis-ease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA). These three agencies collect data from Member States and other reporting countries through di-verse networks.

COURSE CONTENT: The training aims to further harmo-nise the approaches and practices of the Member States in order to increase the efficacy of the competent author-ity in verifying compliance with the legal requirements in the field of distribution and use of antimicrobials and AMr monitoring, reporting and control.

Bringing together participants from both public health authorities and veterinary/food safety authorities from different Member States will make procedures and prac-tices across the EU more compatible and allow exchange between them.

The training is intended for officials from Competent Au-thorities involved in planning and coordinating relevant control activities (preferably at central level) and it con-sists of a balance of theoretical and practical sessions.

TEN 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WEREORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 346

HOST COUNTRIES: 7 (BULGARIA (2), CROATIA, CZECH REPUBLIC (2), DENMARK, HUNGARY, SPAIN (2), SWEDEN (2))

aUdit sYstems and internaL aUditing

THE ISSUE: Independent auditing is an essential part of quality management in inspection systems. Auditors must audit controls covering the full scope of Regula-tion (EC) No 882/2004. The objective of the activity is to disseminate best practices for auditing procedures, improving knowledge of this complex area of work and ensuring consistent and high implementation standards across the Union. The trainings help develop a consis-tent approach across the Member States and help make it possible to compare audit findings indifferent reports.

COURSE CONTENT: The trainings focus on the set-ting-up and implementation of an audit system and ba-sics for performing a detailed audit. Course 1 provides an overview of organising internal audit standards, set-ting-up audit teams and auditor selection, developing an audit programme/schedule, defining the scope, objectives and audit criteria of the audits to achieve the overall pro-gramme goals, performing the audit, monitoring and re-porting on the audit programme. The Course 2 focuses on developing advanced skills to conduct a detailed audit to verify the effective and suitable implementation of official controls by the relevant control authorities. The topics to be covered include at least a review of the au-dit process and of the organisation of an audit system, the definition of the audit scope and final objective, and the pre-audit activities to be performed (research, desk review, risk based targeting, checklist development, audit team roles and responsibilities, etc.). Also to be covered are the techniques and tools to be used during the audit, with particular emphasis on root cause analysis methods and on how to draw conclusions on the effectiveness of implementation and suitability in achieving objectives, and on making recommendations when reporting.

TWO 4-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WEREORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 58

HOST COUNTRIES: 2 (LATVIA, SPAIN)


Border insPeCtion Posts (BiPs)

THE ISSUE: Import controls are fundamental to the an-imal and public health security of the EU single market. Considering that imported animals and their products are in free circulation within the Union after their introduction, it is necessary to ensure that all official staff engaged in import controls (including candidate countries for EU accession, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and European Economic Area (EEA) countries) receive adequate training in order to better implement effective and harmonised import controls.

COURSE CONTENT: The objective is to disseminate best practices for import control procedures and to improve other information regarding this complex area of work to ensure consistent and high implementation standards across the Union.

FOUR 4-DAY TRAINING COURSES WERE ORGANISED.

PARTICIPANTS: 144

HOST COUNTRIES: 2 (BELGIUM (2), FRANCE (2))

ControLs on Contaminants in feed and food

THE ISSUE: Contaminants are substances not inten-tionally added to feed and food which are nonetheless present in feed and food as a result of the production, manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or holding of feed and food, or as a re-sult of environmental contamination. The contaminants present a potential danger to animal or human health or to the environment and could adversely affect livestock production.

COURSE CONTENT: The aim of the training course is to increase understanding of the EU legislative framework in order to improve the capacity of competent authorities to set up a control system for contaminants in feed and food and to allow participants to share their experience in order to improve implementation of such control.

Training consists of both theoretical and practical ses-sions.

EIGHT 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGA-NISED

PARTICIPANTS: 232

HOST COUNTRIES: 4 (AUSTRIA, GERMANY (3), POLAND (3), SPAIN)



eU sanitarY and PHYtosanitarY LaW enforCement

THE ISSUE: Audits and inspections by Dg SANTE are held to check the effectiveness of national systems for control of compliance with EU food safety, animal health and welfare and plant health standards. A programme of inspec-tions is developed every year, identifying priority areas and countries. Training and technical assistance can help Member States to rectify issues identified during Commission audits.

COURSE CONTENT: Activities cover the protection of animals and plants from pests and disease. They also focus on the protection of humans and animals from risks caused by additives, contaminants, toxins or organisms in food, drink or feed and protection of humans from disease carried by animals, plants or derived products and from pests. During STMs, experts assess the situation in Member States and support the authorities in developing action plans to improve compliance.

SEVEN 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 229

HOST COUNTRIES: 6 (BELARUS, BULGARIA (2), GREECE, SERBIA (2), SPAIN, THE NETHERLANDS)

TWELVE SUSTAINED TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 526

HOST COUNTRIES: 11 (ALGERIA, ARMENIA-AZERBAIJAN-GEORGIA, BELARUS, BELARUS-RUSSIA, CZECH REPUBLIC, GERMANY, MOLDOVA, ROMANIA, UKRAINE)

food ContaCt materiaLs

THE ISSUE: Food contact materials are materials and articles intended to come into contact with food and beverages (including bottled drinking water). The harmonisation at EU level of the legislation on FCMs fulfils two essential goals: to protect the health of the consumers and to remove technical barriers to trade. The EU Rules on food contact ma-terials can be of general scope, i.e. apply to all FCMs or apply to specific materials only. EU law may be complemented with Member States national legislation if specific EU rules do not exist.

COURSE CONTENT: The training objective is to provide key authorities involved in official controls with a consistent and high level of understanding on how to ensure effective implementation of the control of FCMs and to give them the opportunity to exchange best practices for ensuring better enforcement of EU rules. Providing training on such control techniques helps develop a consistent approach across the Member States and to make audit findings in dif-ferent reports more comparable.

These training sessions are preferentially addressed to field inspectors involved in control activities in food estab-lishments and food contact materials premises. However, officials from Competent Authorities who are involved in planning and control activities are may also take part. Participants must have adequate professional experience, be familiar with the relevant EU legislation and have successfully participated in the BTSF e-learning module on food contact materials.

TWO 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 60

HOST COUNTRIES: 2 (BELGIUM, ESTONIA)


food HYgiene and fLeXiBiLitY Provisions

THE ISSUE: There is a wide range of EU measures aimed at ensuring a high standard of hygiene during food pro-duction and proper control of foodstuffs. Some of these rules apply to all food business operators, cover the entire food chain and deal with all types of food. Oth-ers are directed to competent authorities in charge of controlling the food chain. As a first attempt to help the Member States to be more aware of flexibility provisions, the Commission in collaboration with Member States has issued two specific guidance documents on this topic. As well as providing a basis for a better understanding of some of the provisions for flexibility provided in the Hygiene regulations, these documents are intended to help food business operators and competent authorities of Member States to make better use of these provisions. Information and training are important strategic tools for helping Member States to achieve these goals.

COURSE CONTENT: The purpose of this training is to raise awareness and to help the competent authorities of the Member States and field inspectors to better un-derstand the flexibility provisions so that they can make better use of them. It is also designed to encourage the dissemination of best practices for official controls re-garding flexibility provisions in all food sectors and the exchange of experience in order to increase the level of expertise and harmonisation in the approach to flexibility at all stages of production, processing and distribution of the food chain. The training is addressed both to of-ficials from Competent Authorities involved in planning and control activities (preferably at headquarters’ level), and field inspectors involved in control activities on food hygiene.

THREE 5-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 89

HOST COUNTRIES: 3 (SPAIN, ITALY, LATVIA)

food HYgiene at PrimarYProdUCtion

THE ISSUE: The European Union (EU) has developed a wide range of measures to ensure a high standard of hygiene during food production and proper control of foodstuffs. Commission guidance documents elaborate on complex hygiene requirements applicable to primary production and give practical examples. National- and EU-level sectorial guides have been developed to describe how primary producers can meet legal requirements. The training raises awareness and promotes a common understanding of the rules to be complied with by food operators operating at primary production level, dis-seminates best practices for official controls regarding primary production activities in all food sectors and fa-vors exchange of experience in order to identify practical solutions to address implementing issues at the primary production level.

COURSE CONTENT: Courses cover EU provisions re-lated to general hygiene rules and controls applying to businesses rearing domestic land or aquatic animals, producing derived primary products, or producing or har-vesting plant products. They also deal with registration requirements for primary production businesses, hy-giene requirements, control of hazards and precaution-ary measures for storage, handling and use of fertilisers, pesticides and biocides, and for the storage, handling and disposal of waste.

SIX 4-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 188

HOST COUNTRIES: 4 (HUNGARY, IRELAND, ITALY (2), SPAIN (2))


food information andComPosition

THE ISSUE: Food law, both at national and EU level, es-tablishes the rights of consumers to safe food and to ac-curate and honest information. In addition to protecting the consumer from misleading claims, labelling also in-fluences fair trade because differences between the laws, regulations and administrative provisions of the Mem-ber States on the labelling of foodstuffs may impede the free circulation of both general food products and special food categories and can lead to unequal conditions of competition.

COURSE CONTENT: The objective of the training is to disseminate best practices for control procedures, im-proving knowledge of this area of work and ensuring consistent and rigorous implementation of rules across the Union. The training is mostly intended for Member State staff involved in supervision, planning and coordi-nating of control activities on food labelling requirements in general and of the foods described above (preferably at central level), as well as field inspectors in this/those authority/ies in charge of carrying out such controls. Workshops will ensure that participants have a good un-derstanding of regulations, including new regulations like the one concerning the minimum font size on food labels and the criteria for the use of claims (specific conditions of use and general principles and conditions of the Reg-ulation).

FIVE 4-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 138

HOST COUNTRIES: 4 (BELGIUM (2), HUNGARY, IRELAND, PORTUGAL)

HaCCP PrinCiPLes and aUdit teCHniQUes

THE ISSUE: The HACCP system is internationally recog-nised as the most effective instrument to help food busi-ness operators attain a higher standard of foodsafety. The HACCP system focuses on identifying and preventing hazards from contaminating food. It is based on hazard analysis and enables more efficient and effective control of product processes in order to verify how well a food business is complying with relevant food safety require-ments. This system places responsibility for ensuring food safety on business operators, helping them to compete more effectively in the world market and reducing barriers to international trade. Control techniques, such as auditing and evaluation of the application of the good hygiene practices and the HACCP based procedures by food busi-nesses and their assessment, are included in Annex II of regulation (EC) No 882/2004 among the relevant subject areas for the training of staff performing official controls. As regards products of animal origin, more specific rules concerning audits are also laid down in Regulation (EC) No 854/2004. Similar rules are and will be introduced in tertiary legislation of Regulation (EU) No 2017/625.

COURSE CONTENT: The training objective is to develop the ability to conduct audits to verify the proper imple-mentation of HACCP-based systems by food business operators, taking into account their specificities and par-ticularities and using a flexible approach.

Providing training on such control techniques will assist in developing a consistent approach across the Member States and in providing assurances that the audit findings in different reports may be comparable. The courses pro-vide an overview of general hygiene requirements, the background of the HACCP systems, the evaluation of the HACCP plan, preparation of audit activities, performance of the audit, collection of audit evidence, reporting on the audit and follow-up.


PARTICIPANTS: 150

HOST COUNTRIES: 6 (CZECH REBUPLIC, FRANCE (2), HUNGARY (2), LITHUANIA)


insPeCtion and CaLiBration of PestiCide aPPLiCation eQUiPment

THE ISSUE: Member States must ensure that all pesticide application equipment (PAE) is inspected at least once, and must successfully pass the inspection or be banned. Member States must also designate bodies to implement inspections and establish certification that is recognised across the EU.These measures help ensure that pesticides are being applied correctly and in a sustainable manner.

COURSE CONTENT: Training aims to improve the harmonisation of inspection practices and support mutual recog-nition of certification. Topics include legislation, inspection and certifications bodies, application of ISO and national standards and methodologies for complying with these standards.

THREE 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WEREORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 56

HOST COUNTRIES: 3 (FRANCE, SPAIN, THE NETHERLANDS)

integrated Pest management

THE ISSUE: Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council was adopted on 21 October 2009. This is the Sustainable Use Directive (SUD), which established a framework for EU action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides by reducing the risks and impacts of pesticide use on human health and the environment and by promoting the use of IPM and alternative approaches or techniques such as non-chemical alternatives to pesticides.

COURSE CONTENT: The training aims to improve the understanding of the IPM concept and IPM schemes in order to develop criteria for the assessment of IPM implementation at farm level. The courses focus on legal requirements, the IPM general principles, the crop-specific IPM schemes and IPM assessment at farm level, including a field visit in a specialised location involved in the development of new IPM techniques and the transfer of knowledge on IPM.

ONE 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WEREORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 20

HOST COUNTRIES: 1 (SPAIN)


miCroBioLogiCaL Criteria and on tHe monitoring and ControL of Zo-onoses and ZoonotiC agents

THE ISSUE: Microbiological criteria are tools that are used in assessing the safety and quality of foods. Regulation (EC) No 2073/2005 defines microbiological criteria for several food categories (e.g. ready-to-eat foods, infant foods, minced meat and meat products and fishery products) and microbes (e.g. Salmonella, Listeria and Enterobacter Sa-kazakii).

Zoonoses are managed by a set of general and specific measures, and in particular for Salmonella, by a number of specific rules for monitoring and control on primary production and placing on the market, including microbiological criteria. Directive 2003/99/EC on the monitoring of zoonoses and zoonotic agents and Regulation (EC) No 2160/2003 on the control of salmonella and other specified food-borne zoonotic agents entered into application in 2003 and 2004 respectively.

COURSE CONTENT: The activity will be focuses on the implementation of microbiological criteria (Course 1) and the control of zoonoses, with a particular focus on the control of Salmonella in poultry and pigs and Campylobacter along the poultry meat production chain (Course 2). The objective of Course 1 is to harmonise the approaches and practices of the Member States in order to increase the efficacy of the competent authority to verify compliance with the legal requirements in the field of microbiological criteria, while the objective of Course 2 is to further harmonise the approaches of the Member States on the control of zoonoses and of zoonotic agents. It should primarily increase the efficacy of staff of competent Authorities in the Member States involved in the implementation and reporting on the control zoonoses and zoonotic agents, in particular Salmonella, and in those zoonoses and zoonotic agents which are monitored and controlled in the primary production in the framework of control and eradication programmes executed in relevant animal populations in order to reach the requested targets for reduction as well as epidemiological indicators set in the Member States.


PARTICIPANTS: 125

HOST COUNTRIES: 3 (BELGIUM, IRELAND (2), ITALY, LATVIA)

movements of dogs and Cats

THE ISSUE: Feedback from Member States and stake-holders shows that training concerning controls of intra-Union trade in, imports of and non-commercial movements of dogs and cats are very important. Dogs and cats in the EU can be moved for non-commercial purposes or for intra-Union trade or import purposes.

Experience has shown that unscrupulous persons disguise commercial movements into non-commercial in order to benefit from less stringent rules and that this is happening often and often disregards animal health conditions, ranging from non-compliance to fraud of documents putting the Union at risk of introducing rabies. The aim of the activity, therefore, is to provide a common understanding of the EU legislation in relation to cross-border move-ments of dogs and cats, and for participants to exchange and share experience and intelligence in order to better tackle illegal activities.

COURSE CONTENT The course provides a full overview of all relevant animal health requirements, including iden-tification and differentiation between intra-Union trade in, imports of and non-commercial movements of dogs and cats. Participants should come from official veterinary and custom services involved in animal health prevention and control actions in all EU Member States and from official veterinary services involved in animal health prevention and control actions in Candidate Countries, the European Neighbouring Policy Countries and the EF- TA-EEA countries.


PARTICIPANTS: 112

HOST COUNTRIES: 3 (GREECE (3), SPAIN, THE NETHERLANDS)


neW investigation teCHniQUes for offiCiaL ControLs aLong tHe food CHain neW

THE ISSUE: “Fraud along the food chain” or “food fraud”, this course is intended to cover – in broad terms – the intentional violation – motivated by financial or economic gain - of EU agri-food legislation applicable to the pro-duction, processing, distribution and marketing of food chain products. Such violations could affect the safety and quality of food, its composition or presentation, the use of prohibited substances or ingredients, deceptive labelling, etc. It could imply infringements of intellectual property rights.

To improve the effectiveness of official controls in rela-tion to food fraud and e-commerce of food it is essential that staff in the competent authorities be equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills, adjusted to the needs of such controls. Traditional investigation and control techniques are not always sufficient to properly control e-commerce of food and food related products, nor to reveal cases of fraud in the food chain (be it through Internet-based or traditional businesses), as many com-petent authorities do not have the necessary equipment and appropriate approach.

COURSE CONTENT: Courses aim to improve knowledge on new effective and efficient control/investigation tech-niques to identify more easily fraud along the food chain (Course 1) and ensure better official controls on e-com-merce in the food sector (Course 2).

Topics in Course 1 provide a general planning of food fraud work, simulation of a physical control, control of accounts and traceability documents, collection of infor-mation from other authorities and sources.

The topics in Course 2 include but are not limited to le-gal requirements concerning food businesses operating on the Internet, registration requirements of EU e-trad-ers and their possible identification via trusted seals, the technical basis of the Internet and techniques to reveal the identities of the server, computers and traders.


PARTICIPANTS: 169

HOST COUNTRIES: 5 (CZECH REPUBLIC, PORTUGAL, SLOVAKIA, SPAIN (2), THE NETHERLANDS)

organiC ProdUCtion sCHeme

THE ISSUE: The EU legislative and policy framework on organic production and the labelling of organic products is designed to guarantee to consumers that products labelled as organic have been produced in line with the reg-ulatory requirements. regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and the labelling of organic products requires Member States to establish control systems, in accordance with regulation (EC) No 882/2004 on official controls in food and feed, and to verify compliance with the regulatory requirements. The courses on organic production schemes cover the further improvement of the knowledge of the control requirements by bringing together participants from different Member States, to exchange experiences and disseminate best practices for control activities and pro-cedures.

COURSE CONTENT: The courses cover the requirements for the set-up and functioning of the control system on organic production and the labelling of organic products, with regard to the general control rules for all food and feed sectors according to the official controls regulation (No 882/2004) and the additional, specific sector control rules in the organic legislation (No 834/2007, 889/2008 and 1235/2008). Also, they address the competent au-thorities’ supervision of control bodies and provide the requirements for the accreditation of the control bodies and for their supervision by the competent authorities.


PARTICIPANTS: 178

HOST COUNTRIES: 5 (CZECH REPUBLIC, GERMANY, ITALY, LITHUANIA, SPAIN)


PLant HeaLtH ControLs

THE ISSUE: Import controls are a key element of the EU plant health regime. Directorate F Health and Food Audits and Analysis has revealed differences between Member States in terms of knowledge of EU requirements and approach to the level of import controls. The proposed new EU plant health regime will require surveillance of certain organisms and the establishment of multi-annual survey programmers.

COURSE CONTENT: Training on import control covers principles of the EU plant quarantine regime for imports, practical elements of inspections, selection of non-regu-lated commodities for controls and checks for prohibited and non-declared items. Subjects also include measures taken in cases of non-compliance, adaptation of control programmes in light of new risks and use of intercep-tion data and other information for targeting inspections. Field visits are organised to points of entry and inspec-tion post facilities at places of destination to discuss practicalities of checks.

EIGHT TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 215

HOST COUNTRIES: 5 (FRANCE, AUSTRIA, ESTONIA (2), ITALY (4), UNITED KINGDOM)

PreParedness and management of food-Borne oUtBreaKs

THE ISSUE: Food-borne outbreak management, investi-gation and reporting require a multidisciplinary approach at local, national and, if multinational, European and in-ternational level, and between public and veterinary/food safety authorities.

Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 (the General Food Law) ensures a high level of protection of human health and consumers’ interest with regards to food.

This Regulation lays down the general principles of food law including the risk analysis concept, the precaution-ary principle and the protection of consumers’ interest. It includes general requirements to ensure that food is safe and that its source is traceable and it stresses the primary responsibility of food business operators.

It also provides the basis for the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) and for the management of emergencies and crises.The latter part was further devel-oped by a general plan on food/feed crisis management (Decision 2004/478/EC ).

The Commission considers that there is a need to im-prove outbreak preparedness and management and to strengthen investigation and reporting of national and multinational food-borne outbreaks.

COURSE CONTENT: The objective of the training is to disseminate best practices for the multidisciplinary man-agement, investigation and reporting of food-borne out-breaks, improving knowledge of this complex area of work and ensuring consistent and high implementation standards across the Union.

Bringing together participants from both public health authorities and veterinary/food safety authorities from different Member States will contribute to increasing the compatibility of procedures and practices across the EU and to allowing exchange between them.


PARTICIPANTS: 176

HOST COUNTRIES: 4 (ITALY, LATVIA, SPAIN (2), THE NETHERLANDS (2))


PLant HeaLtH sUrveYs

THE ISSUE: The course covers a useful supplement for those services that need to plan large scale surveillance for organisms with potential to create a plant health crisis, for example, xylella fastidiosa, or Huanglongbing, for which intensive multi-annual surveys may be required in order to determine the status of the disease.The objective of the course is to provide a clear and harmonised understanding of the key elements of the rele-vant International Standards (in particular International Standard for Phytosanitary Measures No. 6 and 8) and best practices for planning surveys, in particular defining their objectives and statistical basis, their implemen-tation and their reporting. The course covers the application, documentation and reporting requirements for the Commission Work Programme.

COURSE CONTENT: The courses address the relevant EU legislation, including the Financial regulations and Commission Work Programme, the International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) and European Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO) standards, establishing the survey plan and planning of resources, training and guidelines for staff performing surveys.

FOUR 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 95

HOST COUNTRIES: 3 (GERMANY, ITALY (2), LATVIA)


PrinCiPLes and metHods of food safetY risK assessment

THE ISSUE: The EFSA Strategy for Cooperation and Networking and Science Strategy 2012-2016 calls for training on food safety risk assessment, while the EFSA Advisory Forum stresses the need for long-term training on risk assessment for experts dealing with food safety.

COURSE CONTENT: All courses, except those on animal health and welfare, provide an introduction to food safety risk assessment and risk assessment. There are courses on microbiological risk assessment, chemical risk assessment, pest risk assessment, risk assess-ment in genetically modified organisms (gMOs), animal welfare risk assessment, environmental risk assessment and animal health risk assessment.

Training on risk assessment in nutrition details the relevant risk assessment model, challenges of nutrient risk as-sessment, dietary intake assessment, risk characterisation and modelling tools for management options.


PARTICIPANTS: 124

HOST COUNTRIES: 3 (ITALY, PORTUGAL, SLOVENIA)


ProteCted designations sCHemes (Pdo, Pgi, tsg, gi)

THE ISSUE: The EU has three schemes that guarantee the quality of agricultural products and food: Protected Designations of Origin,Protected Geographical Indicationsand Traditional Specialities Guaranteed. The EU organic production scheme guarantees that prod-ucts labelled as organic are indeed organic. These quality schemes need to be backed by effective controls.

COURSE CONTENT: The course covers protected desig-nation schemes. Workshops explain EU food control and marketing accreditation requirements and their applica-tion, as well as general requirements for bodies conduct-ing product certification.


PARTICIPANTS: 86

HOST COUNTRIES: 2 (FRANCE (2), ITALY)

strengtHening imPaCt of Union overvieW rePorts

THE ISSUE: Strengthen official controls and the coop-eration among different bodies in the Members State involved in the control and audit in the field related in broad terms to Food Law, Animal Health and Welfare and Plant Health and to show what the European Commis-sion is doing to improve Food Safety and Quality, Animal Health and Welfare and Plant Health

This is also the opportunity to exchange knowledge on the progress, improvements to and developments in the areas of official controls and to address elements of the legislation valid in the particular field.

COURSE CONTENT: Seminars addressed mainly to Member State officials in order to align the control and audit procedures within the European Commission to im-prove Food Safety and Quality, Animal Health and Wel-fare and Plant Health.

Seminars focus on feed sector risk based on controls, in-ternet sales of food, pesticide residue in organic produc-tion, synergies of officials’ controls, veterinary prepared-ness and anti-microbial resistance

FIVE TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED PARTICIPANTS: 118

HOST COUNTRY: 1 (IRELAND (5))


tHe trade ControL and eXPert sYstem (traCes)

THE ISSUE: TrACES, which stands for Trade Control and Expert System, is a computer network which controls the movement, import and export of live animals, plants and food and feed in the EU. This system is used as part of the EU’s internal import control system and is intended to track live animals and rejected foods. Decision 2003/623/CE provides the legal basis for the development of this integrated computerised veterinary system, and Decision 2004/292/EC requires Member States to use TrACES to comply with the objectives of traceability for all traded and imported live animals, semen and embryos and products of animal origin.

In 2011, it was decided to extend the scope of TrACES to provide for two new modules aimed at tracing products of non-animal origin and live plants.In 2015, the scope of TrACES was once again extended to cover organic products. There is a continuing need to disseminate best practices for TrACES use, to improve knowledge of this system and to ensure consistent and high implementation standards across the EU.

COURSE CONTENT: The training courses will cover the use of TRACES for importing live animals and products of an-imal origin; products of non-animal origin; live plants and organic products and for the intra-EU trade of live animals and animal by-products. The course should provide a detailed overview and explanation of TRACES and cover recent developments in proce-dures used at points of entry and import and trade certification, giving special emphasis to related aspects of food law, animal health and welfare legislation for trade, food and feed and animal and plant health import control rules and other relevant legislation. It should also update system users in the Member States of the latest TrACES developments implementation, in particular as regards the inclusion of products of plant origin and plant health aspects, and it should allow for on-the- spot visits to points of entry (Courses 1, 2, 3 and 4) and Local veterinary Units (Course 5) for practical exercises on TrACES use and related certification activities carried out at these levels.

TEN 3-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 293

HOST COUNTRIES: 5 (BULGARIA, GREECE, LATVIA (2), LITHUANIA (2), PORTUGAL, SPAIN (3))


Annual Report 2018 33Annual Report 2018 32

trainings HeLd oUtside tHe eU The EU is a major player in the global agri-food market. Food, feed, animals, plants and derived products imported into the EU must comply with EU requirements. This may sometimes place constraints on exports by non-EU coun-tries, particularly in many developing countries that may not have the necessary resources and structures to ensure controls and surveillance of their food production systems. In certain areas, this is in the hands of private organisa-tions and importers, especially in the area of fruits and vegetables. Better understanding of EU requirements helps authorities in non-EU countries to improve controls and get their products to the EU market.

The BTSF initiative organises specific training programmes targeting only non-EU countries. They can cover any sanitary and/or phytosanitary subject anywhere in the world. BTSF has thus become an important trademark as a provider of very specific trade-related capacity building. The training is mainly provided through workshops or/and ad-hoc assistance missions.

Workshops have similar formats to those in the EU. They are organised at regional level on selected topics that are of wider interest to a number of countries in a region and provide a detailed overview and explanation of EU SPS standards in the relevant areas having regard, in particular, to the recent developments of EU legislation and by extension of international SPS standards. They can also take the form of targeted training missions where a specific safety concern is being addressed, and hopefully, solved. This may be under the format of farmer training, laboratory training, producing guidance documents etc. . . .

A specific programme aims to train laboratory staff on state-of-the-art techniques for diagnostic testing. Laboratory trainings are organised directly in EU-accredited laboratories and ensure hands-on experience for non-EU laboratory staff.

In 2018 three new specific training programmes for non-EU countries provided complementary training on anti-mi-crobial resistance, on risk analysis and on information management systems for official controls.

Btsf WorLd

THE ISSUE: Several global and EU policies have recently been adopted and affect the implementation of SPS stan-dards. The UN “Sustainable Development goals” aim to have a lasting impact on reducing poverty, ensuring food security, encouraging sustainable agriculture and preserving oceans and marine sources, amongst others. The mea-sures adopted at the COP21 Conference will affect the way farming and agricultural practices will change over the coming years. The Commission objective is to reconcile European with global interests and create jobs, growth and investment. As part of its Development Policy, the EU pursues the objective to reduce and eradicate poverty through sustainable development and the integration of developing countries into the world economy.

Trade at local, regional or international level, and with it access to markets, remains therefore a major catalyst for the development of countries’ individual businesses and for farmers, including smallholder farmers. good agricultural practices, integrated pest management and a healthier animal workforce contribute to it. The positive effects of trade are in creating employment and providing for improved incomes as has been demonstrated in numerous cases.The objective of “Better Training for Safer Food” actions in non-EU countries is to promote safe food for consumers and to enhance market access opportunities at a national, regional and international level – first and foremost to the EU – by targeting all stages of the food production chain, both in the public sector as well as in the private sector.

The BTSF programme mainly targets countries with the biggest benefits and the highest trade volumes, such as China, Brazil, India, and the ASEAN countries but also the European Neighbourhood countries, both South and East. The latter countries are particularly important to help safeguard the high EU status of protection in the area of plant and animal health.

The overall objective of the current BTSF programme in non-EU countries is: • To contribute to increase the availability of safe and nutritious food on national and international markets (i.e. safe food produced thanks to the application of EU sanitary and phytosanitary practices). This will increase jobs and growth through creating market access potential to the EU; • to facilitate trade with our trading partners,• to contribute to protecting the EU from the entry of harmful organisms in particular in the area of plant and animal health, and from the spread of antimicrobial resistance; • to build confidence in the EU regulatory model with competent authorities from non-EU trade partners and pave the way for new market opportunities.

The specific objective is to improve and reinforce the Sanitary and Phytosanitary framework in selected countries to allow better production, processing and trade of safe food, healthy animals and plants.

In the EU, food and feed safety, animal and plant health rules are almost fully harmonised and based on legislation developed at EU level. Any piece of EU legislation relating to feed and food safety, animal or plant health takes inter-national standards and recommendations into consideration.

The EU agro-food sector is a major player in the global market place, being an active producer, exporter and importer of foods. Animals, plants, products of animal and plant origin and all food and feed imported into the EU have to comply with the relevant requirements and conditions established by the EU, or at least the equivalents thereof. Promoting the EU regulatory model, based as it is on international standards, helps developing countries that are trading partners of the EU to comply with the relevant rules/standards, and thus it leads to easier access to the EU and global food markets alike.

Compliance with international and/or EU food safety and quality standards may represent a major constraint on the development of exports by non-EU countries to the EU due to the fact that those countries, mainly developing coun-tries, do not always have adequate national services, resources, structures and equipment to ensure the control and surveillance of the food production chain. In certain areas, such as fruit and vegetables and other non-animal food sectors, the control and surveillance of food safety are in the hands of private organisations and importers. Infor-mation and training are strategic tools to help non-EU countries to develop knowledge and the capacity to meet EU import requirements and increase the trade of safe food.


A better understanding of the EU policy in these matters and areas of imports will allow the competent authorities in non-EU countries to better understand the requirements of EU legislation and ensure improved official controls of products intended for export, thus avoiding unnecessary burden and facilitating trade. Moreover, it is recognised that the possibility of being able to import into the EU is a major catalyst for international trade to any other country.

Existing “trade and development agreements” provide guidance for selecting the countries and themes to be targeted for train-ing programmes. Such agreements often include the obligation to deliver capacity building on SPS matters.

The audit reports of the Commission Directorate F of the Health and Food Safety Directorate general, Dg SANTE, will also serve as benchmarks and assessment tools to evaluate the need and progress made during the training period. The inspection pro-gramme, too, helps guide the identification and selection of countries/themes, especially for the sustained training missions.

It is against this background that the Commission (Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety) launched the pro-gramme “Better Training for Safer Food” with the aim of organising and implementing training courses, in particular in those fields where a need was recognised.

COURSE CONTENT: The trainings cover the organisation and implementation of training activities on food safety, plant health, animal health and welfare covering all non-EU countries in need of such support. The training sessions focus on food safety (including food information), plant health and animal health and welfare.Topics to be addressed include: fishery and aquaculture products sanitary standards; phytosanitary standards, ani-mal welfare, plant protection products, animal disease preparedness and Codex Alimentarius international standards setting.

The geographical scope of the trainings covers non-EU countries globally.

The second BTSF-WOrLD was financed by the Dg SANTE budget and is therefore more market-access oriented and trade facilitative, as compared to the BTSF-WOrLD 1 programme that was financed by the “Food Security Thematic programme” under the Development Cooperation Instrument of Dg DEvCO, which focuses on improving food security in developing countries.

Therefore the new programme relates more to trade negotiations, to standing SPS concerns of restricted market-ac-cess and to emerging SPS issues that may affect trade with the EU.

In the 2018 workshops, the recurrent topics for non-EU countries were again covered, including the topics of fishery and aquacul-ture products as well as the two commodities that are most im-ported, fruits and vegetables. The EU wants to build exporting countries’ capacity on the EU import requirements for such com-modities, explain the EU regulatory model and thereby facilitate trade.

But while the EU must be constantly vigilant about the safety of these types of imports, it faces new threats in the areas of an-imal and plant health and must be prepared to deal with them. Climate and demographic change and increasing global trade are among the factors that increase the exposure of livestock and plants in the EU to external hazards. It is therefore critical to build capacity with our global trading partners to try to anticipate such threats together. In this context under this ongoing pro-


gramme, great emphasis is given to training on “animal disease preparedness”. In 2018, two such workshops have been held, one in Japan and one in Morocco, and in March 2019 a third one was scheduled in Malaysia. It is in the same context that two very specific technical workshops are scheduled for 2019: one on “peste des petits ruminants” (small ruminants’ plague) in Jordan, and another on African swine fever in China.

A second hot topic relates to the ongoing review of the maximum residue levels of pesticides in EU legislation, which may affect lots of exported fruits and vegetables from non-EU countries. The EU wants to anticipate any forthcom-ing problems with such imports and therefore informs WTO Members via the official SPS notification channels, but also provides training on these topics. In both Cambodia and in Peru, for example, workshops were held that clearly explained the EU’s standards and expectations. Until 2017 the BTSF-ISSB program provided for the training of non-EU trading partners on international standards setting. Having a good understanding of both the content but even more importantly of the process of how interna-tional standards are set in the area of food safety, animal and plant health, is key to taking full advantage of the WTO trading system. The EU has understood this very well and has lots of experience to share in this regard, having had the experience of building the built the single market and harmonized SPS standards. It was not deemed essential to offer a second programme at this stage, but because this type of training had not yet been made available in the African region, it was provided for under the 2018 BTSF-WOrLD programme. A Codex Alimentarius training was held in South Africa and gathered representatives from the entire African continent. Apart from the workshops, continuous efforts are made to organise tailor-made sustained training missions outside the EU. These are offered in response to urgent threats, to findings of Dg SANTE audits that may affect trade, to sup-port the implementation of free trade agreements, to requests from EU Delegations and national authorities, among other things. A few examples, given below, illustrate this.

In India a substantial effort is being undertaken to train Indian officials on the risk assessment process. Earlier prob-lems with the presence of a certain pesticide in some exported commodities made them realise that they need a better understanding of EU risk assessment methods. In Vietnam a series of STMs supports the implementation of a recently signed free trade agreement. Thailand has requested specific training on the new EU novel food legislation and had also received specific training on the EU plant health regime. Further trainings are also scheduled in Africa and Latin America on a number of similar topics.

SEVEN 4-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 290

HOST COUNTRY: 7 (ARGENTINA, CAMBODIA, JAPAN, MOROCCO, PERU, SOUTH AFRICA AND VIETNAM)

Nine SUSTAINED TRAINING MISSIONS WERE ORGANISED

HOST COUNTRIES: Thailand Novel foodThailand Plant health (2)Bangladesh Animal health – aquaculture (2)Cambodia NRMP (1)Lao PDR Plant products (PH, PPP, microbiology) (4)Thailand Food for specific groups and medicinal purpose (1)India Risk assessment (3)Vietnam FTA implementation (2)Georgia Lumpy Skin Disease (1)


food testing

THE ISSUE: Many developing countries do not meet EU food testing requirements, and that leads to sanitary and phytosanitary trade concerns.

These issues often relate to deficiencies in mycotoxin, mi-crobiological and residue controls in developing countries with frequent occurrence of mycotoxins, microbiological contamination and high residue levels when samples are taken in the EU. Technical assistance, particularly hands-on training of analytical techniques at EU-accredited lab-oratories, aims to tackle these difficulties. These work-shops, although they were held in the EU in EU-accredited laboratories, are exclusively for participants from ENP, African, Asian, and Central and South American countries.

COURSE CONTENT: Training on mycotoxins focuses par-ticularly on aflatoxins in peanuts, Brazil nuts, pistachios, spices, dried figs, rice, maize, peanut meal and copra, and ochratoxin A in cereals, dried fruit, coffee, cocoa, spices and liquorice. A general introduction covers EU legisla-tion, risk assessment, the establishment of regulatory limits, official bodies and laboratory networks dealing with contaminants and rules for imports of products of non- animal origin.

Subsequent sessions deal with sampling, sample prep-aration, extraction and clean-up, screening methods, confirmatory techniques and quality in analytical labo-ratories. The introduction to microbiology courses covers EU legislation on hygiene and microbiological criteria, EU guidance documents and staff working papers, mi-crobiological pathogens and official control bodies and laboratory networks. Training on residues is divided into two sub-modules: one on vMP residues; the other on PPP residues.The focus of the above trainings is however on their prac-tical implementation and participants are fully immersed in diagnostic techniques for two weeks.FOUR 10-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WEREORGANISED

ONE ON RESIDUES OF VMP ONE ON RESIDUES OF PPP ONE ON MYCOTOXINS

ONE ON MICROBIOLOGY

PARTICIPANTS: 57

HOST COUNTRIES: 3 (BELGIUM (2), GREECE,PORTUGAL)


Union information management sYstems for offiCiaL ControLs on tHe sanitarY and PHYtosanitarY fieLds- traCes

THE ISSUE: It is important for the performance of effective official controls and other official activities that the com-petent authorities in the Member States, the Commission and, where relevant, the competent authorities in non-EU countries and operators be able to exchange data and information related to official controls and/or results thereof rapidly and efficiently.

Several information systems have been established by Union legislation and are managed by the Commission so as to allow such data and information to be handled through EU-wide computerised and internet-based tools. The system dedicated to recording and tracing official

control results is the Trade Control and Expert System (TrACES), which was established by Commission Decisions 2003/24/EC and 2004/292/EC in accordance with Council Directive 90/425/EEC. The TrACES system is a computer-ised network which controls the movement, import and export of live animals, plants and food and feed in the EU. Dedicated computerised systems also exist for the rapid exchange of information between Member States and with the Commission on risks that might arise in the agri-food chain. RASFF is a computerised network which involves the Member States (EU + EFTA/EEA), the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

COURSE CONTENT: The objective of the training is to continue cooperation activities on information management systems at international level with a view of further raising awareness and contributing to a better understanding and more efficient use of existing EU SPS information management systems by the competent authorities and other stakeholders in non-EU countries.It will also aim to facilitate their integration as active users in these systems and in the specific case of the TrACES system, support them in adapting it, in accordance with the principles used at EU level by this system, for the ex-change of information both inside the country and between countries located in the same geographical region.

The trainings are provided to staff of component authorities of non-EU countries. The services focus on the organisa-tion of the workshops on the use of the TrACES systems and the organisation of STMs on rASFF, TrACES and ADNS. A total of 12 three-day workshops will be organised and a total number of 100 man-days implemented as sustained training missions during the course of the contract.

ONE TRAINING SESSION WAS ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 50

HOST COUNTRY: 1 (GHANA)SUSTAINED TRAINING MISSIONS NOT ORGANISED IN 2018


gmo anaLYsis

THE ISSUE: A uniform gMO analysis approach, including a good understanding of EU requirements, helps global trade. Capacity building via training should increase non-EU operators’ expertise and help them to adapt proce-dures for checking compliance with EU requirements. COURSE CONTENT: Two events were organised under this project, including a regional workshop for the Mid-dle East and North Africa (MENA) region and a coordi-nators meeting of all five regions involved in the proj-ect. The MENA workshop served to review the status of GMO analysis in the region and to launch the following steps to further enhance GMO analysis capacities and networking in the MENA region. The intention is to get the real market screening for GMO presence in food and/or feed commodities commercialised in their countries.The results of this project will provide a primary assess-ment of GMOs presence in the region.

The coordinators meeting aimed to raise awareness of the situation, to review the roadmaps defined by the networks in previous regional meetings, to delineate re-gional priorities and to define the programme and con-tent of future regional workshops and training activities accordingly..

TWO 2-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED

PARTICIPANTS: 45

HOST COUNTRY: 1 (ITALY- JRC ISPRA)


neW WorLd Programmes LaUnCHed in 2018

antimiCroBiaL resistanCe (amr) in tHe ConteXt of an overaLL ‘one HeaLtH’ aPProaCH in non –eU CoUntries

THE ISSUE: The objective of the training is to develop cooperation activities on AMR at international level with a view to further raise awareness about the AMr threat and ways to best address it, to promote international recommenda-tions and contribute to the adoption and implementation of measures to tackle AMR nationally and regionally. It will also aim to internationally promote EU policies on AMr, and particularly the ‘One-Health’ approach for addressing AMr in both humans and animals, as well as discussing and sharing EU rules, practices and experiences to support countries currently developing their national AMr action plans in a mutually beneficial way. The training should con-tribute to ensure the convergence of AMr policies between the EU and the beneficiary countries. The programme was launched in 2018 but no training sessions were organised.

COURSE CONTENT: The training is mainly addressed to officials from Competent Authorities in the beneficiary coun-tries involved in developing, planning and coordinating control activities (preferably at central level) to tackle AMr.

• Occurrence factors of AMr in zoonotic and other bacteria with public health importance and general concepts re-lated to AMr;• EC Action Plan against the rising threats from AMr with focus on its ‘One-health’ approach;• Overview of the EU legal framework applicable to AMr and use of antimicrobials;• relevant international initiatives and standards in the field of AMr (e.g. Codex Alimentarius, WHO and OIE);• Practical application of EU provisions on monitoring of AMr in zoonotic and other bacteria with public health; Prac-tical application of EU provisions on the monitoring of use of antimicrobials;• Commission guidance document on prudent use of antimicrobials in veterinary medicine and EU guidelines for the prudent use of antimicrobials in human health;• Examples of good practices for strategies and actions aimed at promoting and strengthening the prudent use of antimicrobials, including examples of successful private standards and/or AMr-related policies developed by com-panies.

NO TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED IN 2018

risK anaLYsis

THE ISSUE: The principles of risk analysis as a basis for all policy measures entails three interconnected compo-nents: risk assessment, risk management and risk communication, which provide a systematic methodology for the determination of effective, proportionate and targeted measures or other actions to protect health.

The EU has been at the forefront of the development of the risk analysis principles and their subsequent international acceptance. It has developed a robust system and can play a major role by promoting its standards and measures for addressing risk analysis with its trade partners.

The proposed training will therefore aim at strengthening the EU as a global actor, and at building on existing rela-tionships and facilitating policy dialogue with the involved countries. For this topic, 8 three-day training sessions will be organised worldwide.

COURSE CONTENT: The key objective of this course is to disseminate the principles and methods of food safety risk analysis, improving knowledge of this complex area of work, improving the knowledge of Third Countries on the European control systems and legislation.

This course will focus on:•The concept of risk assessme nt (as applied in national and in EFSA and other international food safety organiza-tions);• The role of international regulatory agencies and international risk assessment guidelines;• The three components of risk analysis – risk assessment, risk management and risk communication;• risk assessment approach steps according to the WHO: problem formulation, hazard identification, hazard charac-terisation, exposure assessment and risk characterisation;• How to perform a structured risk assessment;• The process of hazard and risk identification;• risk analysis on regulated products and Plant health;• Chemical contaminants and chemical risk analysis (hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assess-ment and risk characterisation in chemical risk assessment, risk management and risk communication);• risk analysis on Zoonosis and Animal Health with a focus on Microbiological risk Analysis;• New Official Controls regulation (OCr) and rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (rASFF)

8 THREE-DAY TRAINING SESSIONS WILL BE ORGANIZED ALL OVER THE WORLD

NO TRAINING SESSIONS WERE ORGANISED IN 2018


Btsf academy e-learning coursesThe BTSF Academy offers e-learning courses to component authority staff from EU Member States and worldwide on the following topics:

• Animal Welfare at slaughter and killing for disease control• Food Contact Materials regulation• Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed• Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points• Prevention, Control and Eradication of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies• Animal Health Prevention and Controls for Aquaculture Animals• Food Hygiene and Controls on Fishery products and Live Bivalve Molluscs (LBMs)• Animal Nutrition• EU Plant Quarantine Regime for Imports• Animal Welfare at slaughter and killing for disease control for Poultry

animal Welfare at slaughter and killing for disease control

This e-learning course is aimed at allowing participants to improve their knowledge and skills in relevant EU legislation (mainly focusing on regulation (EC) N.1099/2009), scientific basis for optimum pre-slaughter handling, stunning, slaughter and culling of animals (basic animal behaviour/physiology and basic anatomy), animal keeping and assessment of keeping facili-ties. The course focus on the main stunning and killing techniques at slaughterhouses in Europe and in the context of culling for disease control purposes, the Animal welfare indica-tors (mainly from Welfare Quality® Protocols) and the killing of animals in the context of animal disease epidemics. The scientific contents are mainly referring on the following ani-

mal species: cattle, pigs, small ruminants and broiler chickens.

food Contact materials rules

The course provides information about the EU legislation on Food Contact Materials with special focus on the changes adopted in the last few year and setting up of national control plans for Food Contact Materials. Moreover, it aims at enhancing the knowledge on the ani-mal keeping and assessment of keeping facilities and to exchange the check-list used by the inspectors. Also, it contains information on the different materials used in Food Contact Ma-terials and how to inspect/check declaration of compliances and supporting documentation to the declaration of compliance.

rapid alert system for food and feed (rasff)

The participants can find information related to the EU rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (recent developments and aspects of Food Law, food hygiene, food control rules and other relevant legislation) and the requirements for setting up a rASFF network inside a country, including required level of food and feed controls. It can also improve their knowledge and skills in organisational structure of component authorities and the legal basis and communi-cation skills. The course presents the requirements for setting up a regional network of coun-tries exchanging rapid alerts about Food and Feed, including the possibility for exchange of information, required legal basis for the system, transparency and confidentiality require-

ments and notification follow-up.

Hazard analysis and Critical Control Point (HaCCP)

The course contains information related to the EU legislation and relevant international stan-dards, the background and principles of HACCP. It refers to the HACCP methodology, develop-ment of HACCP plans and document management, the implementation and validation of HACCP plans and audit principles and management, to verify implementation of HACCP sys-tems and compliance with food and feed requirements.

Prevention, Control and eradication of transmissible spongiform encephalopa-thies (tse)

The course presents the objectives of EU law as regards prevention, eradication and control of Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs). In addition the participants can find information related to the EU provisions on the surveillance and monitoring of TSEs including notification of suspect animals, testing and EU reporting system. Important part of the course is the EU provisions related to the eradication measures to be taken following the confirma-tion of the presence of a TSE, to the feed ban including sampling and testing, for removing and destruction of specified risk materials and concerning the placing on the market and the importation of live animals and ruminant products.

animal Health Prevention and Controls for aquaculture animals

The e-learning course contains EU provisions related to the control of aquatic diseases listed in Council Directive 2006/88/EC, Annex Iv. Moreover, are presented the Pathogens and dis-eases listed in Council Directive 2006/88/EC, the epidemiological surveillance, the health in-spection and the sample collection procedures, the measures to be taken in case of outbreaks (various scenarios, case studies), the notifications at internal and EU level, information and experience exchange.


animal nutrition

The aim of the course is to broaden the knowledge of participants on Regulation 767/2009 and regulation 1831/2003, more specific on feeding stuffs, compound feed, complete feed, complementary feed, mineral feed and other definitions, feed additives, premixtures and processing aids. The course contains general principles of feed marketing, the labelling and advertising of feed materials and compound feed (regulation 767/2009): principles, respon-sibility of labelling, the catalogue of feed materials, restricted materials and packaging of feed. The participants can find information on the feed additives, distinction between feed materials, compound feed, complementary feed, premixtures, feed additives and veterinary

medicinal products, feed for particular nutritional purposes (regulation 767/2009), claims (regulation 767/2009). Moreover, it presents the medicated feed (Directive 90/167) and undesirable substances in feed (Directive 2002/32), the maximum levels and action thresholds, the regulated substances and products: Mycotoxins, Dioxins/PCBs, Toxins of plant origin, etc and carry-over of coccidiostats to non-target feed.

Food hygiene and control on fishery products and live Bivalve molluscs

The course contains the legislative requirements for fishery products and live bivalve mol-luscs throughout the production and distribution chain, including primary production and the requirements for vessels and on-land establishments. It offers information on the tasks of the competent authorities and the tasks and responsibilities of food business operators in order to meet the legislative requirements for fishery products and live bivalve molluscs.

eU plant quarantine regime for imports

The e-Learning course provides the relevant EU legislation, reference to the relevant Interna-tional Standards on Phytosanitary Measures including elements of organisational aspects, policy making and import control planning. Moreover, it contains practical elements of inspec-tions (rules of inspection and sampling, various approaches to different means of convey-ances and to different types of goods, inspections of wood packaging materials, sampling and sample handling, etc.) and inspection at destination (Commission Directive 2004/103/EC), including plant health movement document. The participants can enrich their knowledge on control of imports for scientific purposes, emergency measures and derogations, some

quarantine measures in case of interceptions (various scenarios, traceability and follow-up checks), non-regulated pest management. Additionally, it allows the notification at domestic and EU level as well as of the country of origin; information and experience exchange and the use of interception data from other Member States (EUROPHYT) for targeting inspections and testing.

animal Welfare at slaughter and killing for disease control for poultry

The course makes main references to the legislative requirements for poultry, but also to the scientific basis for proper stunning and slaughter of poultry (basic animal behaviour and ba-sic anatomy), the main stunning and slaughter techniques applied in slaughterhouses. It al-lows the development of standard operating procedures and monitoring of their application and gives Animal welfare indicators: practical examples in slaughterhouses and problem raised by the risk of electro-immobilisation in poultry and the use of high frequency currents. Finally, the course aims at enlarging the main legislative requirements on animal welfare during killing for disease control purposes, the main stunning and killing techniques for poul-

try and the development of action plans for depopulation.


Btsf contractors in 2018

• AENOR• Agriconsulting S.A.• AINIA• APPLICATION EUROPÉENNE DE TECHNOLOGIES ET DE SERVICES (AETS)• Deutsche gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit gmbH (gIZ)• NSF Euro Consultants• Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’ Abruzzo e del Molise ‘g Caporale’ (IZSAM)• JVL Consulting S.A.• Opera SRL• Mostra

PArTiciPAnTS Per TrAining ProgrAmme in 2018 (eu counTrieS)


Union overview auditsTRACES

SPSProtected designations schemes

Plant health surveysPlant health controls

Pesticide application equipmentOutbreak preparedness

Organic farming schemeMovements of dogs and cats

Microbiological criteriaInternal auditing

Integrated pest managementHACCP

Food safety risk assessmentFood info & composition

Food hygyene and primary production

Food fraudFood contact materials

Feed lawContaminants

Border Inspection PostsAnti-microbial resistance

Animal welfareAnimal disease prepearedness 110

148

346

144

232

207

60

169

89

188

141

54

150

20

58

125

112

178

176

42

215

95

86

755

293

118

numBer oF TrAining SeSSionS in 2018 (eu TrAiningS)

Union overview auditsTRACES

SPSProtected designations schemes

Plant health surveysPlant health controls

Pesticide application equipmentOutbreak preparedness

Organic farming schemeMovements of dogs and cats

Microbiological criteriaInternal auditing

Integrated pest managementHACCP

Food safety risk assessmentFood info & composition

Food hygyene and primary production

Food fraudFood contact materials

Feed lawContaminants

Border Inspection PostsAnti-microbial resistance

Animal welfareAnimal disease prepearedness 4

5

10

4

8

7

2

6

3

6

5

3

6

1

2

5

5

6

6

3

8

4

3

7

10

5



Union information management systems

GMO analysis

Food testing

BTSF World 290

57

45

25

300

Participants per training programme in 2018 non EU countriesSTMs participants

PartiCiPants Per training Programme in non eU CoUntries in 2018


Btsf trainings in 2018 BreaKs doWn BY origin of PartiCiPants 2018 (eu conTrieS)

Btsf trainings in 2018, BreaK doWn BY origin of PartiCiPants (gloBAl)

e-leArning By courSe in 2018


ProgreSS rePorT on e-leArning moduleS enrolmenTS And PArTiciPATion in The Period 2014-2018

12000

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

2016BTSF e-Learning Campus

11627

2017

10078

2018(31/12/2018)

6464

2015

3819

2014

2402

e-leArning enrolemenTS By counTry in 2018

0

100 200 300 400 500 600 700 80

0

ZAUYTHSZSISGSEPTPLPHPENONLMKMELVLTLILBITISILIEHUHRHNGRGEUKFRFIESEGEEDKDECZCYCRCOCL CHBRBGBEBA AT 17

35 5159130 41483945315048245

8197696 10324513 1017516 7562129317180 6 11838 3 490262625201938695116 2 4108 16 15


12 000

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

2016BTSF e-Learning Campus

11627

2017

10078

2018(31/12/2018)

6464

2015

3819

2014

2402

Total : 34890

national contact pointsOfficial “Better Training for Safer Food” contact points have been designated for EU countries, as well as candidate, acceding, and associated countries. Staff of competent authorities interested in finding out more about participat-ing in “Better Training for Safer Food” activities are invited to refer to the appropriate contact point from the list at https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/btsf_national-contact-points.pdf.

ParticipantsIn countries where an NCP has been designated, officials who are interested in participating in trainings are invited to refer to their NCP. The list of NCPs can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/btsf_na-tional-contact-points.pdf.

Interested parties from other countries should contact the relevant contractor. Information about the contractors for each course is in this report and at http://ec.europa.eu/chafea/food/trainings/available-trainings_en.htm.

get involvedThe Chafea encourages a wide number of contractors to participate in the BTSF initiative.. Information about the publication of calls and their nature can be found at http://ec.europa.eu/chafea/food/index.html.

Guidelines for tenderers are provided at http://ec.europa.eu/chafea/food/guidelines/index_en.htm.

Print ISBN 978-92-9478-429-2 doi: 10.2818/688714EB-AD-19-001-EN-C

PDF ISBN 978-92-9478-431-5doi: 10.2818/354079EB-AD-19-001-EN-N

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