EU fish rule annulled after court verdict

The European Commission has lost a court case brought by a fish company relating to a piece of regulation.

The General Court ruled that the EU Commission failed to consult the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) before introducing new legislation, so it should be annulled. The EU Commission is required to ask EFSA for scientific advice about matters that could have a significant impact on public health.

Mowi Poland was seeking annulment of a part of EU regulation adopted in December 2023 detailing a 96-hour limit on a process applied in the fishery products sector. The decision means “limited periods outside temperature control” are permitted, as no time limit is indicated in the legislation.

The company specializes in the processing of salmon. To slice the smoked salmon, Mowi uses the stiffening technique, which consists of cutting smoked salmon fillets by lowering their initial temperature to between –7 degrees C (19.4 degrees F) and –14 degrees C (6 degrees F).

More than a clarification
According to the court, before adoption of the regulation, there was no legally binding obligation governing the use of stiffening as a stage of production, only guidance documents.

The amendment introduced a time limit of 96 hours. The EU Commission said it was already known as being the maximum authorized period and appeared in various documents, so the move only clarified requirements.

Mowi said the imposed time limit is not based on any scientific data; the EU Commission did not provide any justification for the limit; and EFSA should have been consulted.

According to the EU Commission, some producers had abused the legislation on the use of stiffening in the production process, as fillets stored at stiffening temperature are of poorer quality and that consumers were misled into believing they were buying a product that had not been frozen.

Potential health risk
The EU Commission said it relied on studies showing that the temperature and time for freezing smoked salmon have a significant impact on its quality. The period of 96 hours considers the maximum time required to complete the slicing.

In its own arguments, the EU Commission said the amendment does not concern a matter that could have a major impact on public health. However, it also said maintaining smoked salmon at stiffening-required temperature for a long period could impact the health of consumers.

The EU Commission said that accepting Mowi’s interpretation of a frozen product means products reduced to under -18 degrees C (-0.4 degrees F) could be sold to consumers as items which have never been frozen and that would be “manifestly dangerous” for public health, given the possibility that the same product had been thawed several times.

Other issues raised by the court were, based on EU regulation, it is not apparent from what point a fishery product was considered to be stored or at which temperature such a product was said to be frozen.

The European Commission was ordered to pay its own costs and those incurred by Mowi Poland. France supported the EU Commission and was also told to pay its own costs.

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here)