Something is rotten in the state of Indian gelatine controls, FVO audit suggests

By Ben Bouckley

- Last updated on GMT

Something is rotten in the state of Indian gelatine controls, FVO audit suggests

Related tags European union

The European Commission (EC) has released a scathing audit report on the Indian gelatine industry, and said its visit late last year revealed“very little progress" since the last mission in 2008 regarding improving substandard legislative and safety controls for exports.

Following its visit between September 7-19, the EC's Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) noted that the Indian Export Inspection Council (EIC) of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce was the central competent authority (CCA) for exports, yet gelatine was not yet under its remit.

In the meantime, the EIC had entrusted the implementation of its previous order on gelatine to the Chemical and Allied Products Export Promotion Council (CAPEXIL), the FVO said.

However, little progress had been made since the last mission in 2008 due to a lack of final legislation in India on gelatine and its raw materials, while a lack of training had been provided to Competent Authorities (CAs), the FVO said.

It added that there was a control system in place that was considered to meet the requirements of Regulation EC No.853/2004 regarding gelatine production.

Weaknesses in official controls

But nonetheless, the report authors noted “a number of weaknesses in the official controls throughout the gelatine chain, mainly in relation to lack of supervision and lack of reporting”.

Another Indian system provided for compliance with requirements laid down in Regulation EC No.2074/2005 for EU exports of gelatine, intermediate gelatine products and raw materials for gelatine production.

However, the auditors detected shortcomings in the chain of certification for gelatine that were not in line with the principles of Council Directive 96/93/EC.

As a result, at a closing meeting on September 19, the EIC (as the CCA) provided the FVO with written guarantees regarding suspension of certification for two gelatine plants “where major non-compliances were noted in the storage facilities for raw materials for gelatine”.

Extremely poor standards

The FVO's opinion on casings production was even more damning: “Since 2008, the CA has not followed the established procedure to register casings establishments and grant them re-approval for the export of casings to the EU,"​ it said.

"The CA has systematically failed to implement the established procedures and controls to guarantee that consignments of casings for human consumption to the EU meet the certification requirements for these exports.

"Approved establishments were operating at extremely poor standards, guarantees on minimum requirements such as 30 days salting could not be provided and official controls have largely been absent in the last three years."

Indian export certificates used did not have any safety features such as watermarks or pre-printed cereal numbers, the FVO audit team said, while it even detected cases of fraudulent certification.

As such, at the closing meeting the EIC in India provided written guarantees that it would suspend certification for all 15 casings establishments from which EU member states are permitted to import casings for human consumption.

Overall FVO report recommendations for the Indian authorities - approved by the latter in a December 2 response - included finalising of legislation and administrative procedures to allow for exports of gelatine and gelatine products to the EU in line with regulations and proper staff training to enforce official controls.

Hygiene compliance within plants, sourcing raw materials in line with EU regulations, effective co-operation between CAs in the sector and strengthening of official controls on casing products was also urged.

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