The EU Simplifies Sanitary Requirements for Colombian Dairy-Ingredient Foods
The European Union has changed the documentation permitted for certain Colombian food products containing dairy ingredients. The measure concerns processed foods made with milk powder, butter or whey.
Under the simplified requirements, evidence of heat treatment applied to the dairy ingredients before they were incorporated into a finished product may be used to demonstrate compliance. The treatment does not have to be documented only at the stage of the final Colombian food product.
The ingredients covered by the measure are milk powder, butter and whey. The provision therefore applies to products whose formulation includes one or more of those ingredients, rather than to all Colombian food exports.
The change concerns sanitary requirements for access to the European Union market. It addresses how exporters can substantiate treatments carried out during the earlier handling of the dairy ingredients used in processed foods.
Colombian exporters can use records of the earlier heat treatments when presenting sanitary evidence for the relevant products. The information provided does not specify a new export volume, a financial value, an implementation date or the names of individual companies.
The measure relates specifically to processed foods made with dairy ingredients and to the recognition of treatments performed before those ingredients were used. It does not state that the European Union has removed sanitary controls or eliminated documentation requirements for the products concerned.
