2021/0914/NL
EC/EFTA
NL Niederlande
  • C50A - Lebensmittel
2022-03-31
2022-01-06

Live bivalve molluscs in Dutch production areas.

Regulation (Commodities Act) on live bivalve molluscs (https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0039746/2017-07-08)

Article 2 of the Regulation may contain technical requirements.

Tetrodotoxin (further: TTX is a dangerous toxin that, even in low concentrations, can lead to fatal paralysis in humans. Regulation (Commodities Act) on live bivalve molluscs (https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0039746/2017-07-08) This regulation sets a limit value for the presence of TTX in live bivalve molluscs of 44 μg/kg. Above this limit value, the NVWA takes measures in production areas for live bivalve molluscs.
Regulation (Commodities Act) on live bivalve molluscs (https://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0039746/2017-07-08)
The limit value remains the same in this new policy line (44 μg/kg product). In addition to the limit value, an action limit of 22 μg/kg product is also set. Setting conditions if the action limit is exceeded provides a better level of protection for the consumer, since the increase in the TTX content can be dealt with earlier. This prevents, as far as possible, the placing on the market of live bivalve molluscs with a TTX concentration exceeding the limit value.
The TTX content in live bivalve molluscs may increase rapidly from below the action limit (22 μg/kg product) to above the limit value (44 μg/kg product). This means that if conditions/measures are not in place in a production area (TTX below the action limit) at the next sampling, a lot may contain a TTX content above the limit value.
Setting conditions in case of exceeding the action limit helps preventing to place on the market of live bivalve molluscs with a toxin concentration above the limit value. Where the action limit is exceeded in a production, sub- or watershed area, it is possible to move and place live bivalve molluscs on the market under conditions.
Where the limit value is exceeded in a production, sub- or watershed area, measures shall be taken, in accordance with Article 62 of Regulation (EU) 2019/627.
For the sake of completeness, it is noted that Article 13d of the Commodities Act contains a mutual recognition clause. The mutual recognition principle entails that an EU Member State shall not ban in its own territory the sale of goods that have been legally brought onto the market in another EU Member State on the grounds that the goods do not meet its own national regulations. It is important here that goods from another EU Member State offer at least an equivalent level of protection.