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Noix de Grenoble
Noix du Périgord
Jacques CAZOR General Directorate for Competition
Policy, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Control
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EU food safety and hygien regulationsand
wallnuts
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Food Law ( Regulation 178/2002 Field of
application)

• Foodstuffs and animal feeds
• All stages of production, processing and
  distribution of foodstuffs

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Food Law ( Regulation 178/2002 Field of
application)

• Food imported into the Community is to comply
  with the general requirements laid down in
  Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 or satisfy rules that
  are equivalent to Community rules.
• These Regulation defines certain specific hygiene
  requirements for food imported into the Community
  (e.g level of aflatoxins in certain nuts or
  dried fruits from certain countries)

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178/2002 General Principles
principles of

• transparency
• justification (risk analysis)?
• safety
• precaution

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178/2002

• Setting up of

• EFSA European Food Safety Authority ?
• The EUs Rapid Alert System

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178/2002 general recommendations

• Security
• Conformity (import, export)?
• Responsibility of professionals
• Responsibility of the relevant authorities
• Checks
• Traceability
• Withdrawal from market
• Information from inspection services

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Regulation 852/2004 food hygiene
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Food Hygiene

• All necessary steps to guarantee the safety and
  hygiene of foodstuffs
• The necessary measures and conditions to control
  risks and guarantee that a foodstuff is fit for
  human consumption if used in the prescribed
  manner

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852/2004 Field of application

• The entire food-processing chain, including
  primary production and related activities
• All risks

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852/2004 Field of Application
All the managers of agri-food businesses, at
every stage

• Primary production
• Processing, packaging
• Storage
• Wholesale stage
• Transport
• All forms of distribution
• Catering, including collective social services
  catering
• Imports
• Exports

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All hazards pathogens of a biological, chemical
or physical nature likely to present a problem
for public health
Biological hazards Bactéries (E. Coli), virus

• Chemical hazards
• TOXIC NATURAL
• histamine, mycotoxins
• RESIDUES pesticides
• Environnemental (polluant or toxics factory
  fumes, water)

• Physical hazards
• FOREIGN BODIES
• Glass, metal, needles, fragments of bone
• ALLERGENS

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852/2004 Principles

• Professionals have front-line responsibility for
  food safety
• Food safety must be guaranteed at every stage,
  from primary production onwards

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852/2004 Strong Points

• Compliance with Good Hygiene Practices
• Compliance with the cold chain
• HACCP (except primary production and related
  activities)?
• Guide to Good Hygiene Practices (including
  primary production) and application of HACCP
• Staff training
• Declaration and registration of establishments

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GUIDES TO GOOD PRACTICES

• Collates recommendations specific to a given
  family of food products, OR if possible at a
  stage that allows regulatory health objectives to
  be met
• Referring to relevant codes of practice of Codex
  alimentarius
• Is based on a HACCP-type approach
• Is validated from a scientific and technical
  point of view

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CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THE PREVENTION AND REDUCTION
OF AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATION IN TREE NUTS

• Walnuts as others tree nuts as hazel nuts,
  pistachio nuts, almonds are at risk of
  contamination by aflatoxins, which are considered
  to be genotoxic carcinogens
• In order to protect public health, to keep these
  contaminants at levels which are toxicologically
  acceptable
• maximum levels of contamination have been set in
  several countries for different foodstuffs tree
  nuts, groundnuts, dried fruits (figs), cereals

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CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THE PREVENTION AND REDUCTION
OF AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATION IN TREE NUTS

• e.g European Union Commission has set at a strict
  level in 2006 (rglt 1881 modified 2010) for
  certains tree nuts
• wallnuts
• 2,0 µg/kg for aflatoxin B1
• 4,0 µg/kg for sum of B1, B2, G1 and G2
• Walnuts shall not be placed on the market when
  they contain aflatoxin at a level exceeding this
  maximum level.
• In the edible part of the fruit.

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CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THE PREVENTION AND REDUCTION
OF AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATION IN TREE NUTS

• E.U. commission considers that is reasonably
  achievable by following good agricultural, and
  manufacturing practices.
• The CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THE PREVENTION AND
  REDUCTION OF AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATION IN TREE NUTS
  
• elaborated in 2005 by Codex alimentarius provided
  uniform guidance for all countries to attempt to
  control and manage contamination by various
  mycotoxins, specifically aflatoxins.

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CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THE PREVENTION AND REDUCTION
OF AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATION IN TREE NUTS

• This Code of Practice applies to all varieties of
  tree nuts of commercial and international
  concern, including walnuts (Juglans spp.).

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CODE OF PRACTICE FOR THE PREVENTION AND REDUCTION
OF AFLATOXIN CONTAMINATION IN TREE NUTS

• Only by effective control at all stages from the
  farm through to processing can excellent quality
  of the final product be assured.
• However, the complete elimination of mycotoxin
  contaminated commodities, including tree nuts, is
  not achievable at this time.

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What are the mycotoxins?

• Mycotoxins, and particularly aflatoxins, are
  secondary metabolites produced by filamentous
  fungus (Aspergillus flavus/parasiticus)
• found in soil, air and all plant parts
  On groundnuts
• growing in warm, humid conditions.

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Ecology of Aspergillus flavus/parasiticus

• Fungi in the Aspergillus species are rapidly
  growing hyaline molds that are common
  opportunists found in the soil and on decaying
  matter
• cannot grow or produce aflatoxins at water
  activities less than 0.7 relative humidity below
  70 and temperatures below 10ºC.
• Under stress conditions such as drought or
  insect infestation, aflatoxin contamination may
  increase
• Improper storage conditions can also lead to
  aflatoxin contamination after crops have been
  harvested.

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Why are they dangerous for health?

• There are a number of different types of
  aflatoxin,
• Which can be toxic to human and animals through
  consumption of contaminated food and feed
  entering into food chain.
• Particularly aflatoxin B1 have been showed
  toxigenic effects it can cause cancer by
  reacting with genetic material.

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HOW TO REDUCE THEM?

• Procedures used to reduce and prevent aflatoxin
  production include
• (1) selection of resistant varieties, if
  practicable,
• (2) minimize the presence of insects and other
  pests in the orchard during the growing phase,
• (3) minimize physical damage to nuts during
  harvesting and transportation,
• and (4) ensure that nuts are properly cleaned,
  dried and labelled when placed in a storage
  facility equipped with temperature and moisture
  controls.

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• Thank you for your attention