Council Directive 93/43/EEC on the hygiene of foodstuffs.

This Directive lays down the general rules of hygiene for foodstuffs and the procedures for verification of compliance with the rules. It applies without prejudice to more specific Community food hygiene regulations. For the purposes of the Directive the term "food hygiene" means all measures necessary to ensure the safety and wholesomeness of foodstuffs. The measures cover all stages after primary production, during preparation processing, manufacturing, packaging, storing, transportation, distribution, handling and offering for sale or supply to the consumer. The term "food business" means any undertaking, whether for profit or not, and whether public or private, carrying out any of the afore-mentioned stages after primary production. "Wholesome food" means any food which is fit for human consumption as far as hygiene is concerned. It provides that food business operators shall comply with all the rules of hygiene as listed in the Annex, to ensure that they are able to carry out the preparation, processing, manufacturing, packaging, storing, transportation, distribution, handling and offering for sale or supply of foodstuffs in a hygienic manner. In order to ensure compliance, EC Member States are required to encourage the development of guides to good hygiene practice which may be used voluntarily by food businesses.
Subject to the Treaty, Member States may maintain, amend or introduce national food hygiene provisions that are more specific than those laid down by this Directive, provided that they are not less stringent than those set out in the Annex, and do not constitute a restriction, hindrance or barrier to trade in foodstuffs. Controls in accordance with Directive 89/397/EC are to be carried out by the competent authorities in order to ensure that food businesses comply with the provisions of this Directive. If the competent authorities ascertain that failure to comply might result in risks to the safety or wholesomeness of foodstuffs, they must take all appropriate measures which may extend to the withdrawal and/or the destruction of the foodstuff in question, or to the closure of all or part of the undertaking for an appropriate period of time. If a hygiene problem likely to pose a serious risk to human health arises or spreads in the territory of a third country, the Commission, either on its own initiative or at the request of a Member State, may suspend imports from all or part of that third country concerned or lay down special conditions for foodstuffs from all or part of that third country. Member States are required to designate the competent authorities responsible for the control of hygiene and notify the Commission of them. A Standing Committee on Foodstuffs has been created to assist the Commission, to which the Commission representative is required to submit a draft of any measures to be taken.
The Committee shall adopt measures following the specific procedure provided in article 14 and if they are in accordance with the measures envisaged by the Committee the Commission shall adopt them. Otherwise, or if the Committee fails to issue an opinion, the Commission is required to submit the proposed measures to the Council. In these cases a different procedure is provided. Following these procedures it is possible to grant waivers to certain of the provisions set out the Annex and adopt micro-biological criteria and temperature control criteria for certain classes of foodstuffs after consulting the Scientific Committee for Food created under Decision 74/234/EC.