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The global distribution of food products has created a requirement for inspection and testing of imported goods at national and outer European borders. Problems that are generally not encountered with local produce arise when dealing with imports from third world countries. These may include excessive levels of heavy metals, insufficient hygiene, unapproved veterinary pharmaceuticals in animal-derived foodstuffs or excessive levels of pesticides in plant products. The systematic control of imported food and feed is a challenging endeavour. Rigorous testing of imported non-animal food products by the Hesse State Laboratories was introduced in 2007 at Frankfurt/Main airport in order to protect German consumers from these potential health dangers. This ability to monitor imports with the entire personnel and analytical capacity of the Hesse State Laboratory is a new approach in governmental health inspection. From 2007 to 2009, a total of 1,552 food product samples of plant origin were tested for the presence of pesticide residues. Of these, 18% were found to violate maximum residue levels. Thus, the incidence of products from third world countries that do not meet statutory guidelines (EC) No. 396/2005 is approximately twice that of the average for foodstuffs from third world countries tested in other laboratories in Germany. In 10% of the non-compliant samples, the acute reference dose was exceeded by more than 100% and in a few by more than 1,000%. As a result of the 3-year experience with the "bottleneck control" system at Frankfurt/Main Airport, the Hesse Ministry of Energy, Environment, Agriculture and Consumer Protection has voiced its opinion in the authorisation directive that mandatory prior notification is essential for all non-animal food products imported into the European Union. Only a unified Europe-wide approach can eventually lead to success. |
