Fish oil suppliers prepare for new hygiene rules

EU importers have begun stockpiling omega-3 fish oil supplies to prevent shortages ahead of changes to European hygiene legislation in May.

However, industry associations have reassured customers that the changes will not prove as catastrophic to the sector as originally feared, now a compromise has been struck with the European Commission.
EC Regulation 853/2004 on hygiene for food of animal origin originally subjected EU fish oil imports for use in foods/supplements for human consumption to strict rules covering production, storage and transport. In addition, suppliers’ premises had to be audited to prove they met these standards.
The vast majority of fish oil is destined for animal feed, argued omega-3 firms. Consequently, there was little incentive for fisheries to spend a fortune upgrading facilities just to appease the tiny percentage of customers buying fish oil for human consumption.
In other words, many fisheries would not comply with the legislation, leaving customers using the oil for functional foods or supplements out in the cold.
However, a compromise has now been struck with the Commission, said Adam Ismail, executive director of Goed, a trade body representing omega-3 refiners, suppliers and customers: “Things are going along somewhat smoothly now. The delay [a temporary reprieve from the legislation secured by Goed in 2007/8] enabled work with the Commission to develop a solution that met its objectives and the industry’s.
“Three pieces of legislation (EC 1020/2008, 1022/2008, 1023/2008) have now been enacted that allow crude fish oils to continue being produced at facilities they are currently being produced in, with additional hygiene controls,” he said.
“The challenge now is implementation. We have heard that countries that produce fish oil from the fishmeal production process, like Peru and Morocco, are implementing the rules well and local authorities have begun inspecting facilities and issuing certificates.
“Production of fish oil from fish caught for seafood has been more heterogeneous, with countries like Thailand and some of the Pacific islands implementing the rules without major issues.”
However, Japan’s tuna fisheries were having “significant problems”, he claimed. “In Japan, the oil they produce is from extremely hygienic seafood processes because the tuna is caught nearly entirely for domestic raw fish consumption. The problem is, since it is nearly entirely domestically produced, they do not export it to the EU and have not had to worry about EU hygiene regulations.
“Trying to marry the requirements of EU HACCP (hazard analysis critical control points) with the high standards of the Japanese authorities has been challenging. The Japanese have reached out to the Commission for guidance though, and we are hoping the Commission will engage them and develop a workable solution.”
Many omega-3 refiners were also securing adequate EU supplies of oil ahead of the May compliance deadline, avoiding shortages if there were any transitional issues, he said.
Epax, a key player in the omega-3 fish oil sector, said its “entire omega-3 fish oil supply chain is now classified under one EU-compliant quality system”
A spokesman said: “The Austral Group, a sister subsidiary in the Austevoll fisheries group [and supplier of omega-3 crude fish oil to Epax], has received approval from the Institute of Fisheries Technology of Peru for its fish oil plants and fishing fleet in Peru for the production of human consumption foodstuff to the European Union.”