During 2007 the Croatian National Parliament adopted legislation in the area of food safety, which is fully harmonised with EC Directive 178/02, "General Food Law" and EC "hygiene package" directives.
The Food Hygiene Regulation 852/2004 sets the general rules of hygiene in the production of all food products, the obligations of food producers (all persons engaged in the food business – from primary producers to distributors), and provides guidelines on good manufacturing practice. There is a special emphasis on internal control system (HACCP) and the responsibility of all links in the food production chain to ensure the sanitary safety of food. Since animal food products are linked to specific risks (microbiological, chemical and physical), separate hygiene rules apply to them under EC Regulation 853/2004, such as general principles for transporting animals to slaughterhouses, standards for slaughterhouses and cutting plants in terms of construction, layout, equipment, hygienic measures in producing food products of animal origin, hygiene requirements for slaughter, meat cutting and boning, emergency slaughter and conditions for storing and transporting meat.
Linked to the specific risks in producing meat and meat products, EC Regulation 854/2004 sets the rules for official veterinary controls which include checking details of the food chain (Food Chain Information – FCI), inspecting animals before slaughter, checking that regulations concerning animal welfare have been observed, inspection following slaughter, supervision of high-risk material and the side-products of slaughter, and laboratory analyses. Along with EC Regulation 854/2004, concerning the official control of animal food products, Regulation 882/2004 covers official controls carried out to verify the implementation of the Food and Animal Feed Act and regulations on animal health and welfare. The Regulation deals with the way in which official controls are organised, the competent bodies, the organisation of laboratories, sample-taking and measures to be undertaken in emergency situations. The pre-accession process of the Republic of Croatia to the EU has led to harmonisation of legislation, within Chapter 12: Food Safety. The process consisted of reviewing legislation, bilateral negotiations and finally, harmonisation of legislation in the area of food safety.
The next step in the process should be the opening of negotiations in Chapter 12 and, eventually, the closing of this negotiating chapter.
In April 2007, the Food Act (OG 46/07) was passed, which defines the competent body in food safety as the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management. The competent body performs risk management, and the Croatian Food Agency provides an estimate of and in part communicates risks. The Food Act establishes the basis for ensuring high levels of protection for human health and the interests of consumers in relation to food, taking into account, in particular, the differences in supplying food, including traditional methods of production, and at the same time ensuring effective market functioning. The Act lays down basic principles and responsibilities, scientific bases, an efficient organisational structure and procedures to support the adoption of decisions in relation to sanitary safety of food and animal feed. The Food Act regulates the following areas: scope and definitions, the general
provisions of food regulations, the Croatian Food Agency, the rapid response system, emergency measures and crisis management, food hygiene, animal feed hygiene, official controls, new foodstuffs, genetically modified food and genetically modified animal feed, food and animal feed quality, traditional speciality designations, designations of origin and geographical indication, and the powers and responsibilities of the competent body. The Act is applicable to all phases of food and animal feed production, processing and distribution, except for primary production intended for personal consumption in households, or the preparation, handling and storage of food intended for personal consumption in households. The competent bodies for carrying out inspections are the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the State Inspectorate. At the local level, supervision of how regulations are implemented is carried out by 21 County Offices (20 in the counties and one in the City of Zagreb), with over 800 veterinary inspectors and over 200 sanitary inspectors. The Border Veterinary and Border Sanitary Inspectorates also participate in the system by monitoring consignments of food for import. The network of laboratories carrying out food analysis is organised around two organisations – the Croatian Veterinary Institute and the Croatian National Institute of Public Health, and altogether 30 laboratories have been authorised by the Ministry of Health. In these laboratories, around 50,000 food samples are tested each year, and the results of laboratory analysis are regularly published in the Croatian Health Service Yearbook, other publications and on the web pages of the Croatian National Institute of Public Health and the Croatian Food Agency.
Surveillance of foodborne infectious diseases is carried out by the Epidemiological Service of the Croatian National Institute of Public Health and by county institutes of public health, with their epidemiological stations in the field, pursuant to the Act on Protecting the Population from Infectious Diseases. Data on these diseases form part of the central epidemiological IT system and are published regularly.
The "hygiene package" Regulations were implemented in the legislation of the Republic of Croatia in October 2007, through of a group of ordinances published in Official Gazette 99/07: the Ordinance on food hygiene, the Ordinance on hygiene of food of animal origin, the Ordinance on official controls of food of animal origin, and the Ordinance on official controls performed to verify compliance with the provisions of regulations on food and animal feed, as well as regulations on the health and protection of animals. All those involved in the food business, who submit applications to open new premises following the entry into force of these Ordinances, must meet the requirements laid down in these regulations and the Food Act, except those areas for which special deadlines are prescribed by the provisions of Article 134 of the Food Act. Those involved in the food business and the animal feed business are obliged to align themselves with the provisions of the Food Act and the Ordinances of the "hygiene package" by 1 January 2009 at the latest, unless otherwise prescribed by other regulations (Article 134). The Food Safety and Quality Directorate has been organised within the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, in order to assure an integral approach in ensuring food safety (of animal and non-animal origin) in the Republic of Croatia and co-ordination between competent bodies and other institutions involved in the food safety system.
The Directorate has been given the task of co-ordinating the activities of institutions involved in the food safety system, i.e. the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development,
the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Croatian Food Agency, the Croatian Veterinary Institute, the Croatian National Institute of Public Health and others. The competent body must ensure the co-operation of all bodies which perform official controls, and must establish co-operation with the competent bodies for food safety in EU countries and the EFSA.
In addition, the competent body will be responsible for co-ordinating the production of annual action plans relating to the performance of official controls based on risk analysis, will co- ordinate the production of guides, procedures, control lists, and reporting rules for inspectors performing official food controls, co-ordinate crisis managements situations and set up and implement a rapid response system for food and animal feed, authorise laboratories and keep an integral register of facilities. The competent body will also implement EU projects in the area of food safety, organise training sessions for inspectors performing food controls and represent the national focal point for co-operation with the European Commission in the area of food safety. It should be mentioned that, in spite of the fact that regulations in the area of the sanitary safety of food have been adopted, the competent body and all those involved in the process still need to carry out adjustments to the food safety guidelines adopted, strengthen administrative and technical capacities, and, in particular, carry out systematic training and education for officials and all others working in the food production sector, all with the purpose of protecting the health of the population. Inspections of sanitary safety of food and sample-taking during inspectional monitoring have produced the following results:
Table 19: Sanitary safety of tested food samples in 2005 and 2006 in the Republic of Croatia
Domestic origin Imported origin Total
Year Type of test Total Unsafe % Total Unsafe % Total Unsafe % Chemical 18,067 820 4.54 11,152 2,383 3.52 29,219 1,212 4.15 2005 Micro-biological 34,353 2,610 7.60 7,515 59 0.79 41,868 2,669 6.37
Chemical 19,802 754 3.81 1,150 345 3.00 31,308 1,099 3.51 2006
Micro-biological 33,041 2,216 6.71 7,950 167 2.10 2.10 2,383 5.81 In the period 2005-2006, the most frequent causes of chemical unfitness of food were
incorrectly declared ingredients, non-matching sensory characteristics due to chemical changes, the prohibited use of additives in certain food groups and, rarely, the presence of additives, pesticides, heavy metals, aphlatoxins, etc, and the presence of iodine in kitchen salt lower than the quantity prescribed by regulations. In the same period, the most frequent causes of microbiological unfitness of food were excessive count of aerobic mesophilic bacteria, yeasts, moulds or enterobacterial counts higher than permitted levels, and results showing coagulase-positive staphylococci or salmonella.