EU report of production of petfood of animal origin in China 2009

Wednesday 16 December 2009

This report describes the outcome of a mission carried out by the Food and Veterinary Office in China, from 17 to 27 March 2009.

The overall objectives of the mission were to verify compliance with conditions for importation of pet food of animal origin, as indicated in Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002, and assess whether the systems for health certification of pet food of animal origin to be exported to the EU follow rules and principles at least equivalent to those laid down in Directive 96/93/EC.

In terms of scope, the mission concentrated on: a) the approval of plants exporting pet food of animal origin to the EU; b) the type of animal by-products (ABP) used for production of pet food of animal origin, processing standards and microbiological hygiene of products ready to be exported to the EU; c) the organisation and implementation of official controls on plants exporting pet food of animal origin to the EU; and d) health certification procedures on the aforementioned requirements.

Overall, the CCA have taken satisfactory steps to offer guarantees that production of pet food of animal origin imported into the EU from China follows requirements largely equivalent to those laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 and, therefore, the requirements set out in the model health certificates laid down in Chapter 3(A), 3(B) and 3(C) of Annex X to Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002 are largely complied with. However, there are certain doubts on the reliability of the attestation on the absence of specified risk material in the the production of pet food, although these has to be seen in the context of the limited ABP of ruminant origin used for the production of pet food other than dog chews.

The reason of the above deficiency is that the attestation concerning the type and source of ABP used for the production of pet food is made on the basis of data of which certifying officers have not personal knowledge or whose accuracy they can not verify. Nevertheless, considering the limited used of the concerned material, the system for health certification of pet food of animal origin to be exported to the EU could be considered largely satisfactory.

The report makes a number of recommendations addressed to the Chinese authorities, aimed at rectifying the shortcomings identified and further enhancing the implementing and control measures in place.

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