The European Commission has adopted legislation that obliges EU countries to do entire genome signage (WGS) during food outbreaks.
Member States must collect Salmonella, Listeria Monocytogenes, E. Coli, Campylobacter Jejuni and Campylobacter Coli Isolates of food, animal, feed and related environmental samples, in which the isolates are associated or suspected of food. They will also have to perform WGs on those isolates.
EU countries would send results to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which developed the One Health WGS system with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). EFSA would compare the WGS results on these samples with findings of human isolates that are communicated to ECDC to identify the source of outbreaks.
Time to adjust
Authorities should perform WGs on at least one isolate of each serovar, biotype or molecular type of the collected isolates in an official laboratory.
Food companies are also obliged to submit to the relevant authority, on request, isolates of the aforementioned pathogens and related WGS results from their own investigations when it is suspected that they will be linked to an outbreak.
The EU committee said that this would make identification of the source of an outbreak and the affected shipments possible in combination with data from epidemiological examination. When sending results to EFSA, additional related data, such as the date and the country of sampling, must be included.
“The efficiency and cross-sectoral cooperation between public health and food safety authorities in studies is essential to limit the impact of public health of an outbreak and to minimize the economic impact related to recall actions and the withdrawal of unsafe or potentially unsafe food. For this purpose, the rapid and reliable identification of batches and parties or shipments that contain contaminated food and the cause of the outbreak is required. “
Rules apply from 23 August 2026 to allow Member States and EFSA time to adapt to the new requirements.
Earlier comments
A feedback period about the Regulation in 2024 received 18 comments. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) supported the plans because they would significantly improve food safety and public health within the European Union. “
Fooddrinkeurope, which represents the food and drinking production sector, has expressed concern about financial feasibility, data protection, technical accessibility, legal burden and international competitiveness.
The European Chilled Food Federation said that any test results submitted by companies to a government agency stay in that system, so if a competition is found in the future, this company can be accused of an outbreak, with accusations of persistent contamination.
Clitravi, the European Association for the meat processing sector, said that government agencies put pressure on companies to share their WGS data, although the companies have paid for the tests and have the data.
The Dutch Meat Association (COV) and Dutch Meat Products Association (VNV) said that the move would not result in a representative data set of companies, because only a few with sufficient resources perform WGS. This can lead to a large company being blamed for a finding, because other companies with fewer resources do not perform WGS. This will make companies less willing to invest in WGS research and lead to less research being conducted, according to the associations.
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