Inspection of food: monitoring of substances and residues in live animals and meat

This Commission Staff Working document concerns the implementation of national residue monitoring plans in the Member States in 2011.

Its aim is to communicate to the European Parliament and to the Council of the European Union a summary of the Member States' findings and actions taken as a consequence of the non-compliant results found in food of animal origin through the implementation of Council Directive 96/23/EC on measures to monitor certain substances and residues thereof in live animals and animal products during 2011. Under the Directive, Member States must forward annually to the Commission the national monitoring plans, together with the results of their residue monitoring for the previous year, by 31 March at the latest. The Directive lays down a procedure by which these plans are approved on a yearly basis.

The document comprises three parts:

• In Part I, the Commission summarises the results of the national residue monitoring plans for the year 2011. Trends within the European Union are also indicated by comparison with previous reports.
• Part II is a compilation and analysis of data of the results obtained in the Member States in 2011.

The changes introduced by some Member States for the 2011 plan, together with the responses of the Member States in relation to this type of actions, are summarised in Part III.