European food safety legislation has evolved with new requirements on matured meats, mobile slaughterhouses, farmed game and a new identification mark for establishments processing food products of animal origin.
Further new features concern the surface temperature requirements of meat, the processing times of frozen fishery products, the proof of pasteurization of buffalo milk, the alteration of the odor of eggs. Regulation (EU) 2024/1141, to follow.
1) Regulation (EU) No 2024/1141
Regulation (EU) No 2024/1141, in force from 4 January 2024, amends Annexes II and III of Hygiene 2 Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 as regards specific hygiene requirements for certain meat, fishery products, dairy products and eggs. (1)
2) Aged meats and microbiological safety
The maturation is a process aimed at improving the organoleptic characteristics of fresh meat, in terms of tenderness and complexity of taste, through microorganisms and enzymes that break down the connective tissue. It can be done in two ways:
– wet aging. The beef, pork and lamb meats are sealed in vacuum packs, where the aging takes place in unchanged humidity conditions;
– dry aging The carcasses and/or anatomical cuts are stored without packaging, i.e. in bags permeable to water vapour.
Seasoning, in both cases, it takes place 'in refrigerated rooms or cabinets and left to mature for several weeks, in controlled environmental conditions of temperature, relative humidity and air flow'. (2)
2.1) EFSA Scientific Opinion (2023)
The EFSA scientific opinion 'Microbiological safety of aged meat' (2023) – clarifies that aged meats do not present additional food safety risks, provided that the specific combinations of time and temperature indicated therein are respected (i.e. aging up to 35 days, at a maximum temperature of + 3 °C). Higher temperatures could conversely allow the development of molds capable of producing dangerous mycotoxins. (3)
Security levels were determined by the experts of the EFSA panel on biological risks (BIOHAZ) by identifying the main pathogens and spoilage bacteria that could develop and survive during the maturation process and could be harmful to health:
- Escherichia coli (STEC), especially in beef (4)
- Salmonella spp. (5)
- Staphylococcus aureus (6)
- Listeria monocytogenes (7)
- Yersinia spp.
- Campylobacter spp. (8)
- Clostridium spp.
2.2) EFSA Recommendations
EFSA concludes its scientific evaluation in the following terms:
– the application of the Pre-Requisites Programs (PRPs) and the HACCP system used for fresh meat can guarantee the same level of safety for aged meat, in compliance with the time/temperature combinations described in the opinion itself. (2) Nevertheless
– further research is needed to establish the exact conditions under which molds such as Aspergillus spp.. and Penicillium spp. can produce mycotoxins, including challenge tests on dry-aged beef using a range of different combinations of temperature, relative humidity, airflow and time to achieve various combinations of surface temperature, aw and pH. The information generated should inform future food safety control systems for beef aging
– further microbiological research (bacterial count, presence of psychrotrophic and pathogenic bacteria) is recommended to contribute to a complete risk assessment associated with minced meat and mechanically separated meat produced from both dry-aged beef and wet-aged beef, pork or sheep.
– further challenge tests are finally recommended to evaluate the development of L. monocytogenes during the different maturation conditions and subsequent storage.
2.3) Matured meats, the new EU rules. Definitions and general requirements
The European Commission has followed up on the aforementioned EFSA opinion with a specific regulation to guarantee the microbiological safety of dry-aged meats, precisely through the delegated regulation (EU) 2024/1141. The following rules apply from 9 November 2024:
- 'for "dry aging” means the aerobic storage of fresh meat in the form of carcasses or hanging cuts, unpackaged or packed in bags permeable to water vapour in a refrigerated room or cabinet and left to mature for several weeks under controlled environmental conditions in terms of temperature, relative humidity and air flow';
- 'Before being placed on the market or frozen, dry-aged beef must be stored at a temperature of surface temperature between –0,5 and +3,0 °C, with arelative humidity not exceeding 85% and a air flow between 0,2 and 0,5 m/s in a dedicated room or cabinet for a maximum of 35 days starting from the end of the stabilization period following slaughter'. (9) Nevertheless
- 'However, food business operators may apply other combinations of surface temperature, relative humidity, air flow and time, or dry-age meat of other species, if they demonstrate to the satisfaction of the competent authority that equivalent guarantees are provided with regard to the safety of the meat.'.
2.4) Specific requirements
Specific requirements are also provided to guarantee the microbiological stability of the aged meats:
'(i) dry maturation must begin immediately after the stabilisation period following slaughter and cutting and/or transport to an establishment carrying out dry maturation must not be unduly delayed;
(ii) meat must not be loaded into the room or cabinet until the temperature and relative humidity referred to in the second paragraph have been reached;
(iii) meat must be hung from the bone or, if a shelf is used, sufficient perforation must be provided to facilitate air flow and periodic turning must be done using hygienic methods;
(iv) at the start of the dry-aging process the meat must be hung from the bone or, if a rack is used, sufficient perforation must be ensured to facilitate air flow and periodic turning using hygienic methods;
(v) thermometers, relative humidity probes and other equipment must be used to accurately monitor and facilitate control of room or cabinet conditions;
vi) the air exiting the evaporator, re-entering the evaporator and coming into contact with the beef must be filtered or treated with UV rays;
vii) when the crust is trimmed, such trimming must be carried out in compliance with hygiene standards'.
3) Mobile slaughterhouses
Mobile and partially mobile slaughterhouses – increasingly used in remote areas to reduce animal welfare problems during transport – are subject by Regulation (EU) 2024/1141 to the same hygiene requirements already established for fixed-site slaughterhouses.
It is introduced also the possibility of slaughtering a limited number of animals at the farm of origin, always with the aim of limiting the transport stress for the animals to be slaughtered, subject to the consent of the competent veterinary authorities. (10)
The carcasses slaughtered on site must be transported by suitable means to a recognised slaughterhouse where the usual health checks are carried out, and only following their favourable outcome is the meat released for human consumption.
4) Farmed game
The information on the food chain already provided for farmed meat animals – that is, health status of the company and the territory of origin, health conditions, drugs administered, identification of the company veterinarian – are also extended to farmed game.
5) Identification mark
The identification mark of the establishment producing food of animal origin must bear the EU acronym (or the corresponding indication in the other languages of the Union). (11)
The obligation applies from 9 November 2024, with a transitional period which however includes the possibility of using the previous CE acronym until 31.12.28.
6) Meat transport requirements
The stringent safety requirements during transport (surface temperature of meat and cargo area, surface contamination limits of pork meat) already defined for transports lasting less than 60 hours also apply to short transports (< 30 hours), previously subject to more lenient limits.
The surface temperature must also be measured using a probe thermometer, calibrated according to the ISO 13485 standard, to be inserted into the meat in 5 points at a distance of approximately 5 cm from each other, at a depth of between 0,5 and 1 cm. A great step forward for the standardization of controls.
7) Frozen fishery products, processing times
Processing of frozen fishery products which for technological reasons must be carried out at temperatures above -18°C (i.e. portioning, slicing, decapitating, churning, deveining, etc.) must be completed within a maximum of 96 hours of their removal from the freezing chain.
8) Buffalo milk, eggs
The health authorities competent authorities may accept guarantees other than the alkaline phosphatase test, as this is inadequate for verifying the pasteurisation of buffalo milk (as well as milk separated into different fractions before being pasteurised).
'Any application intentional foreign odors eggs It must not be intended to hide a pre-existing odor'.
Dario Dongo, Sarah Lanzilli, Maria Ada Marzano
Footnotes
(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1141 of 14 December 2023 amending Annexes II and III to Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 as regards specific hygiene requirements for certain meat, fishery products, dairy products and eggs https://tinyurl.com/5xeuydd5
(2) EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ). Konstantinos Koutsoumanis, Ana Allende, Avelino Alvarez-Ordóñez, Sara Bover-Cid, Marianne Chemaly, Alessandra De Cesare, Lieve Herman, Friederike Hilbert, Roland Lindqvist, Maarten Nauta, Luisa Peixe, Giuseppe Ru, Marion Simmons, Panagiotis Skandamis, Elisabetta Suffredini, Bojan Blagojevic, Inge Van Damme, Michaela Hempen, Winy Messens, Declan Bolton. Microbiological safety of aged meat. EFSA Journal, Volume 21, Issue 1, e07745. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2023.7745
(3) Marta Strinati. Mycotoxins, interview with Carlo Brera, ISS expert. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(4) Silvia Bonardi. Beef and STEC poisoning. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(5) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. Salmonella, new analysis techniques for antibiotic-resistant strains. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(6) Silvia Bonardi. Staphylococcus aureus and food safety. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(7) Dario Dongo. Listeria, a dangerous pathogen out of control. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(8) Marta Strinati. Salmonella and Campylobacter increasingly resistant to antibiotics. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade).
(9) Stabilisation lasts a few days and precedes the placing of the meat on the market. See Regulation (EC) No 853/04, Annex III, Section I, Chapter VII, point 1
(10) Up to three bovine animals other than bison, three equine animals, six pigs, nine sheep or goats
(11) Identification mark, replies the lawyer Dario Dongo. FARE (Food and Agriculture Requirements). 9.9.19
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.
Veterinary manager ASL Città di Torino, specialist in Inspection of food of animal origin, expert in food law, has published in international journals and deals, among other things, with food delivery and hygiene of collective catering.
Veterinarian specialist in inspection of food of animal origin and research doctor in animal nutrition and food safety.
