In the European Union there is a wide range of Community legislation to guarantee that food and feed is safe and wholesome, which covers all the stages of the food chain, from the production stage to the placing on the market of food and feed. In addition to these basic and specific rules governing food and feed safety, there is another set of rules governing animal health, plant health, animal welfare, food and agriculture quality and ecological production that comprises the so-called European Production Model.                       

All these laws governing food, feed, animals and plants are based on the principle that the business operators of food and feed companies, farmers, livestock farmers, industrialists, distributors, transporters, and traders are bound to ensure that they comply with said laws in respect of their respective activities since they are directly and primarily responsible for the food and feed that is consumed.

As a Member State of the European Union, Spain is bound to ensure that business operators comply with Community legislation governing food and feed safety and quality and the regulations governing animal health, plant health and animal welfare. For said purpose, a harmonised framework was established at Community level for the organisation of Official Controls, that is, the activities that the competent authorities of government departments pursue to verify and check that both natural persons and legal entities comply with the pertinent laws and regulations. This is implemented by virtue of Regulation (EC) no. 882/2004 of the European Parliament and the Council of 29th April 2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with food and feed law, animal health and animal welfare rules.

This Regulation lays down the rules for conducting official controls to verify compliance with the rules directed at:  

• Preventing, eliminating or reducing to acceptable levels the risks that threaten persons and animals directly or through the environment;   
• Guaranteeing loyal and fair practices in the placing on the market of food and feed, protecting the interests of consumers including the provision of information.   

In order that official controls are comprehensive, systematic, uniform and coherent, this Regulation obliges Member States to design and apply a Multiannual National Control Plan in accordance with certain principles and guidelines

Spain’s first Plan was designed in 2006 and approved by the Sectoral Conference of Agriculture and Rural Development of the then Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and by the Institutional Committee of the Spanish Food Safety and Nutrition Agency, and it was called “National Food Chain Control Plan 2007-2010”.

After the General Audit that was conducted by the Food and Veterinary Office of the European Commission in 2008, the experience acquired, the new regulations and knowledge gained, a new plan was created over 2009 and 2010. This was achieved by working in interdepartmental coordination forums (Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs; Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality; AESAN; Ministry of Territorial Policy and Government Departments) and inter-institutional (general administration of the central government, Autonomous Regions and towns and cities, and local administration) and European administration (working groups of the European Commission with other Member States).

This new plan called “National Food Chain Official Control Plan 2011-2015” provides Spain with a solid framework that is stable while at the same time flexible for conducting official controls on food and feed where government departments, business operators and consumers have a reference for obligations and guarantees. According to the principle of transparency of government departments, the plan describes the official control activities to be conducted throughout the food chain from the primary production stage to the placement at points of sale to the end consumer.

NATIONAL FOOD CHAIN OFFICIAL CONTROL PLAN 2011-2015 ( Pdf, 371.9 Kb )