Storage firms face £5M traceability bill

UK chilled storage and distribution firms face unnecessary additional bills of £5M a year as a result of tighter EU traceability requirements, according to the Food Storage and Distribution Federation (FSDF).

The European Commission (EC) is pressing ahead with further requirements surrounding EU food hygiene directives 852-854/2004. After it canvassed trade representatives to ascertain their estimates of the additional bureaucracy and paperwork involved, the FSDF has confirmed its estimates that it would add £5M per year to its members’ costs.
Both it and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) believe the extra data and records the EC is demanding are unnecessary for the UK because it already has sufficiently stringent traceability procedures.
“A food business operator only needs to know where you have got animal foodstuffs from and where they are being sent - the EU wants every step covered,” said FSDF chief executive Chris Sturman.
“You’re talking millions of pounds of additional costs for software; staff training; gathering and storing information ... It will cost £5M to implement per year, with ongoing costs in excess of that.
“We will need to collect additional information to that currently recorded and this could delay the movement of product. The current system provides traceability that would identify infringements as long as they are properly policed and operated.”
However, the FSA believes the FSDF has over-estimated the costs to its section of the industry. “We agree with them [the FSDF] that the costs should not outweigh the benefits, but it’s likely the amendments will go through because most member states are in favour of that,” said an FSA spokeswoman.
The EC is expected to produce shortly an assessment of the impact of the amendments on industry.