Hygiene of fruit and vegetables

In 2004, the European Parliament and Council reached an agreement on a new legislation for the hygiene of foodstuffs. This new regulation will have an impact on hygiene conditions applicable for the fresh produce sector. The new legislation will be applicable in the EU as of 1 January 2006 (European Parliament and Council Regulation 852/2004/EC on hygiene of foodstuffs).

Besides, the European Union also finalised a new text on official controls (European Parliament and Council Regulation 882/2004/EC).

The European Commission is also working on a range of guidelines to assist the food industry to implement the European hygiene legislation. The guidelines applicable to the fruit and vegetable sector are listed below and available for download:

- implementation provisions of hygiene legislation ;

- guidence document on food hygiene;

- requirements for imported products ;

- implementation HACCP and

- facilitating the implementation of HACCP.