EU assesses dairy safety in Romania and Finland

Two audits recently released by the European Commission’s health and safety agency have assessed the safety of milk and dairy products in Romania and Finland. Several problems were found. The first remote DG Sante audit, in December 2020 in Romania, found the official control system was comprehensive but there were some issues with lab testing and enforcement. Dairy sites are registered based on their commercial activities: most “non-professional” holdings are not subject to official controls because they are not considered to be involved in national trade of dairy products. However, they do provide raw milk to approved processing plants. The network of accredited official laboratories has not been assessed by the central authority because of other priorities or a lack of budget. In 2020, nine inspections were planned but only one had been carried out because of a lack of financial resources. Another was done at a lab, following a complaint from a client. At private labs, none of ...