Commissioner Kyriakides at the "smarter rules for safer food and plant health” conference - Main contents

Speech by Commissioner Kyriakides in charge of Health and Food Safety at the conference on "smarter rules for safer food and plant health" in Brussels.

Ms Hazekamp, Ms Husu-Kallio, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure for me to open today's conference and to begin my mandate on such a positive note - by celebrating smarter rules for safer food and plant health.

We are here today to mark 40 years of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed. A system that has been instrumental in protecting the health and safety of European citizens, and the integrity of our food chain.

And tomorrow, we will celebrate the entry into application of two important legislations: on Plant Health and on Official Controls.

The stronger our rules and checks are, the better and safer our food and our food production will be and with this also the quality of the food European citizens consume.

Together, these laws will make our food chain safer and fit for the challenges of the futureAnd it is not so much about the laws themselves.

It is all about the health of our citizens, which is closely linked to the quality of the food they eat - these are two sides of the same coin. My work on food safety will also have important impacts on the health and well-being of our citizens and will play a key role for the successful delivery on many of our health priorities, including the Europe Beats Cancer Plan that I will present next year.

Public health, food safety, animal health and plant health all need to be looked at together, not in isolation. As you see, we have plenty of reasons to celebrate today, and I am very grateful to everyone who has made these achievements possible.

They are down to the dedication and hard work of many people, much of it behind the scenes and away from the public eye - and I am thankful to them for that.

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This week is in many ways an important week for safe and better food systems. Only two days ago, President von der Leyen presented the new European Green Deal - Europe's plan of action for a stronger, greener, more democratic and more sustainable future.

An important part of this is the new "Farm to Fork Strategy" that I will present next year.This strategy will be developed - with strong stakeholder input - over the coming months.

Its main objective is to make our food systems more sustainable, more resilient and more equal.Plant pests and animal diseases will be addressed as part of this.

They pose a major threat for all sectors of the agri-food chain and have major consequences. Many have started to spread in unprecedented patterns, a challenge that is compounded by climate change.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

By helping us detect plant pests sooner and monitor them more efficiently, the new rules on Plant Health will play an important role in delivering the objectives of the new "Farm to Fork Strategy".

They will help protect the EU i against the introduction of new pests, and tackle existing pests like Xylella fastidiosa more effectively. There is currently no cure and the economic impact of this pest is increasing.

Recent simulations suggest it has the potential to cause annual production losses of around €5.5 billion if it spreads across the entire EU.

This is without quantifying the cultural and historical value of the many plants it affects. I also know there are efforts to prevent Citrus greening and Citrus black spot from entering the EU.

It is important that everyone makes full and effective use of the tools in our the new Plant Health legislation, as well as the scientific support from the European Food Safety Authority, to ensure we are successful.

I call on all of you -- in Member States and the sectors concerned -- to make a clear commitment to invest sufficient resources to achieve this.

The United Nations has declared 2020 the "International Year of Plant Health".

Let's use this as an opportunity to raise public awareness on the importance of plant health, and the need to proactively protect our plants. Let's use it to push this message globally as well.

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At the same time, we need to step up implementation and enforcement of the extensive rules we have in place that applies to the food chain.

They are there to protect us - me, you, everyone - and it is explicitly included in my mission letter for this Commission's mandate. Every citizen has the right to know where and how the food is produced and processed before it lands on our plates, this is something I will take very seriously. The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed has supported this objective for 40 years.

It has helped us to trace the source of many food safety concerns, including dioxins, horsemeat and fipronil - experiences many citizens surely still keep fresh in their minds.

Historically, alerts from the Rapid Alert System were the result of official controls only, nearly 4 000 cases every year.

But recently, we've seen increasing notifications also from non official controls. About 700 cases this year came from business operators carrying out their own checks. Around 200 came from consumer complaints. Year after year, these figures increase.

It shows the importance of the network, and it shows our stakeholders are increasingly engaged in protecting the safety of our food and feed. It shows that safe food is not something our citizens take lightly, on the contrary. It shows that it concerns all of us.

We will continue to support and strengthen this work.

Online tools such as Rapid Alert System and the Consumers' portal have reinforced the system further.

From tomorrow, the Rapid Alert System will be integrated into the new Information Management System for Official Controls. This will provide a more holistic overview on risks, where the origins lie and will help us to act even faster and more targeted at the same time.

One of the big challenges is data and information management.

I call on you to discuss today how data can be managed more transparently without compromising on efficiency or data protection.

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Official Controls Regulation will also address risks in the food chain in a more targeted and comprehensive manner.

For other continents, we are a model to follow when it comes to quality and standards - and we need to ensure that we can uphold this also in the future.

Upholding our standards also means ensuring that animals, plants and goods entering the EU meet our requirements. Currently, almost half of the notifications concern goods originating from outside the EU.

The new rules will improve checks carried out on animals, plants, food and feed at the borders and integrate these controls under one roof at border control posts.

Through the new rules we will also better address the important challenge of food fraud.

Controls will now also have to take into account the likelihood of consumers being misled. Food fraud is a criminal activity, and sanctions should be dissuasive enough to discourage such activity.

As we look to the future, these elements will help define our strategy against food fraud.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Our journey to today's milestones are the result of constructive partnerships and close cooperation. I look forward to continuing our work in the same spirit.

As we enter the next phase of implementation, the European Commission is ready to support you. Together, these instruments deliver smarter rules for plant health and safer food for EU citizens.

I wish you fruitful discussions today and a safe and healthy start to 2020.