Food Safety and Hunted Game in the Netherlands: learning from other EU Member States. Dutch Wildlife Health Centre.

At the turn of the century, Europe revised its strategy in matters of food safety for products of animal origin. A number of European laws ensued, including the Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 (revised on 27/07/2014,) laying down the procedures in matters of food safety, the Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 (revised on 20/04/2009) providing the guidelines for the hygienic production of all foodstuffs, and, for certain products of animal origin, the Regulation (EC) No. 853/2004 (revised on 01/06/2014), defining specific hygiene rules for food of animal origin. Finally, the Regulation (EC) No. 2075/2005 (revised on 01/06/2014) lays down specific rules on official controls for Trichinella in meat. These European laws were subsequently deployed amongst others in the hunted game value chain, where they are referred to as ‘the Hygiene package’. The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs (Min EZ) and the Dutch Agency for Food and Consumer Products (NVWA) wished to assess the progress made in the Netherlands and to identify possible improvements to further ensure food safety. The evaluation focused on the wild game value chain (in-fur or in-feather), in particular on the role of hunters in ensuring food safety and how this was implemented and perceived, as well as on how traceability of hunted wild game in-fur or in-feather was assured in the food chain. The Dutch Wildlife Health Centre performed the evaluation (further referred to as the ‘Dutch evaluation’). Four subjects where improvements can be made were identified: 1) the basic training of hunters, 2) the training of ‘trained persons (TP)’1, 3) communication and feedback to stakeholders, clarification of concepts and grey areas, and 4) traceability. Insight into how other European countries are dealing with certain aspects of these subjects would be useful, and lessons could be learnt. The aim of this document was therefore to collate information from other European countries on certain points relating to the four subjects mentioned above, so that the Netherlands take this into account in the undertaken process to improve food safety in the wild game meat value chain in the Netherlands. For points that cannot be covered due to time restraints, or points for which there lacked information on internet, the aim was to indicate where to find/whom to contact.