During the period leading up to the Easter holidays, the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority, through its national-level control structures, will initiate specific thematic inspections to ensure citizens a safe food trade.

All veterinarians from the County Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Directorates (DSVSA) and the official veterinary and food safety sanitary territories (CSVSAO) will participate in these actions.

The inspections aim to ensure compliance with veterinary health and food safety conditions in all agri-food markets, slaughterhouses, temporary slaughter centers, meat processing and storage units, as well as in retail units (butcheries, meat shops, public food establishments, pizzerias, canteens, catering units, confectioneries, bakeries, confectionery/pastry laboratories, tourist guesthouses, hypermarket/supermarket-type units, grocery stores, etc.).

Each county DSVSA has established a work schedule for the periods March 27 - March 31, 2024, and April 22 - May 3, 2024 (leading up to Catholic Easter and Orthodox Easter), during which veterinarians will conduct inspections and verifications of compliance with veterinary health conditions in the controlled sanitary veterinary and food safety objectives.

Thus, until May 3, 2024, permanence is ensured at the territorial DSVSA and CSVSAO levels, including on Saturdays and Sundays. The working schedule, the name of the responsible veterinarian, and the telephone number for consumers to report any irregularities in the field of food safety will be displayed at their headquarters. This information will also be posted on the website of each county DSVSA.

In restricted areas, following the confirmation of an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in domestic pigs, the movement of lambs destined for slaughter will be carried out in compliance with the prevention and control measures for certain listed diseases, following a risk analysis regarding the spread of the ASF virus. The competent territorial authority will decide, as appropriate, to extend the measures to impose restrictions on the movement of other species of animals and products derived from them.

As a result of the confirmation of scrapie in certain counties, the movement of sheep and goats destined for slaughter, as well as the entire route from farms or origin to sanitary veterinary authorized slaughterhouses or temporarily authorized slaughter centers, is monitored.

In all agri-food markets and other specially designated places where meat and other animal products will be sold, the necessary veterinary health personnel and their permanence are ensured, including on Saturdays and Sundays.

To streamline these actions, veterinarians will request, whenever they deem it necessary, the support of other competent county or local authorities (City Halls, County Councils, Prefect Institutions, ANAF, ANPC, Ministry of Health, etc.), to organize joint inspection and control actions within the limits of the competencies established by the legislation in force and based on cooperation protocols concluded with other authorities.

The control actions will take into account compliance with the following requirements:

Animals intended for slaughter

- Farms/establishments from where the animals will be delivered for slaughter, as well as operators in the food sector carrying out processing, storage, transport/distribution, and sale activities of lamb meat and derived products, must have veterinary health authorization/registration issued in accordance with the provisions of the legislation in force;

- Only animals with a suitable health status and identified in accordance with the legislation in force, raised in farms, localities, and areas free from transmissible diseases, will be allowed for slaughter for public consumption;

- Compliance with animal welfare rules during transportation, slaughter, or cutting, according to legal provisions, and movement forms must be properly completed;

DSVSA inspectors, in collaboration with representatives of the county Police Inspectorates, and respectively, of the Bucharest Municipality, will conduct traffic controls on lamb transports for:

- Verification of hygiene conditions, disinfection, and sanitary veterinary authorization documents for the motor vehicles used for the transportation of these animals;

- Verification of accompanying documents of the animals (veterinary certificates attesting to the health of the lambs and documents containing information about the food chain);

- Lamb slaughter is carried out in sanitary veterinary authorized slaughterhouses for intra-community exchanges for the slaughter of sheep, published on the ANSVSA website;

- Lamb slaughter can also be carried out in temporarily arranged spaces, organized in accordance with the law to ensure veterinary health supervision and compliance with legal provisions;

- Temporarily arranged spaces for lamb slaughter must be located in areas where no restrictions have been imposed for animal health reasons;

- The operation of lamb slaughter centers (places) is permitted only during the period March 27 - March 31, 2024 (before Catholic Easter), and respectively, during the period April 22 - May 3, 2024 (before Orthodox Easter), between the hours of 07:00 - 17:00.

County DSVSAs and the Bucharest Municipality will allow the establishment of temporarily arranged spaces only under the following conditions:

- These temporarily arranged spaces must comply with general and specific hygiene, health, and animal welfare conditions, management of by-products of animal origin not intended for human consumption, and waste disposal, established by veterinary health legislation;

- There is a sufficient number of properly trained official veterinarians to carry out ante and post-mortem examinations, who can take measures regarding the meat if violations of the legislation in force are found at the level of the temporarily arranged spaces.

Lamb meat

- Lamb meat batches are delivered from slaughterhouses accompanied by a veterinary health certificate;

- Lamb meat resulting from slaughtering in temporarily arranged spaces is obtained only at the direct request of consumers and only after ante and post-mortem examinations, and cannot be delivered for sale to other food units registered/authorized by veterinary health authorities;

- Lamb carcasses are marked in accordance with legal provisions regarding marking and sanitary veterinary certification of fresh meat and marking of products of animal origin intended for human consumption;

- Marking of lamb meat resulting from slaughtering in temporarily arranged spaces is done with a round health mark with a diameter of 3.5 cm, inside which the county code followed by the numeric code assigned by the county DSVSA/municipality of Bucharest is inscribed;

- Storage and sale of lamb meat must be done in appropriate spaces, ensuring adequate temperature and hygiene conditions;

- Compliance with temperature requirements during transportation for lamb meat in refrigerated or frozen state.

Eggs and egg products intended for human consumption

- Producers and traders selling eggs for human consumption, egg-producing farms, and egg packing centers must be authorized/registered by veterinary health authorities in accordance with the veterinary health legislation in force;

- Egg transport must be carried out only in motor vehicles authorized by veterinary health authorities, and throughout the storage and sale period, temperature and hygiene must be ensured;

- Eggs are marked with the producer code and come from egg packing centers authorized in accordance with the provisions regarding applicable egg marketing standards;

- Ovoscopy examination is carried out by veterinary personnel from the sanitary veterinary and food safety territories for eggs sold by private producers in agri-food markets and fairs;

- Eggs with cracked or damaged shells are withdrawn from sale and directed to a neutralization or technical processing unit.

Milk and dairy products

- Small producers selling milk and cheese in agri-food markets and fairs must be sanitary-veterinary registered, in accordance with the provisions of Order no. 111/2008 of ANSVSA;

- Raw milk intended for direct sale or processing into cheese comes from healthy animals raised in farms/establish

ments authorized/registered by veterinary health authorities and not suffering from diseases transmissible to humans through milk;

- Small producers selling raw milk and dairy products directly to the end consumer in agri-food markets and fairs must have health certificates for the animals from which the milk comes, according to the aforementioned Order;

- Cheeses intended for sale by small producers must be displayed for sale in specially arranged spaces in agri-food markets and fairs, in showcases intended for this purpose, in containers (trays) made of non-corrosive materials, easy to clean and sanitize (plastic, ceramic, stainless steel, etc);

- Cheeses must be adequately protected against contamination during transportation and exposure for sale to the end consumer (for example: in plastic containers, plastic bags, etc);

- In the case of transporting and storing cheeses for direct sale to the end consumer in traditional wooden containers (barrels), these must be clean and properly identified to ensure product traceability and prevent contamination;

- Cheeses sold in agri-food markets and fairs must be packaged in appropriate single-use packaging (food plastic bags, waxed food paper, etc), or other types of containers properly cleaned and sanitized;

- Traceability of cheeses obtained by small producers is ensured through identification/labelling methods containing information about the product name, producer name, place of production, production date, such as:

- Applying adhesive labels on transport or sales packaging;

- Using printed bags;

- Displaying, at the time of sale and throughout the commercialization period, information written on boards and/or panels placed above or next to the presented product, etc.

Fish and fishery products

- The spaces and places where fish and fishery products are sold must be sanitary-veterinary registered and meet the conditions established for carrying out these activities;

- The conditions established by the legislation in force regarding the transport, storage, and exposure for sale of fish and fishery products are respected;

- The ice used to maintain the temperature of fresh fish and fishery products must be obtained only from drinking water and must be ensured throughout the exposure period;

- The traceability of fish and fishery products is ensured through labels and other accompanying documents, even if they come from aquaculture (controlled growth system) or are captured (fished) from the wild environment;

- Fish and fishery products are not infested with visible parasites and are organoleptically suitable;

Other traditional food products: cakes, pastries, bakery products, seasonal vegetables, etc. can be sold in arranged and registered or authorized sanitary veterinary spaces, under the supervision of specialized personnel.

In the event that, during veterinary health inspections, it is found that veterinary health and food safety conditions are not met, depending on the seriousness of the findings, veterinarians will suspend the activity of the respective unit until all deficiencies are remedied, apply sanctions, or confiscate food products that may pose a risk to public health. Communication and Documentary Logistics Service (Photo: Dreamstime)