Government Decision No. 1.198 validating Food Hygiene Norms.

This Government Decision establishes these general food hygiene rules and the procedures for verifying compliance of foodstuffs with them. Food shall be intended food products of any origin, processed or unprocessed, intended for human consumption, including mineral water. Hygiene of food shall be intended all measures necessary to guarantee the safety and sanitation of food products, which covers all stages subsequent to primary production, including harvesting, slaughtering and milking, i.e. those during preparation, processing, manufacturing, packaging, storage, transport, distribution, handling, sale or making available to the consumer. Preparation, processing, manufacturing, packaging, storage, transport, distribution, handling, marketing and making available to consumers of food products must be carried out in hygienic conditions. Units in the food sector must identify activities that are decisive for food safety and must guarantee that appropriate safety procedures are established, implemented, maintained and reviewed based on the principles used in the system of risk analysis and critical control points (HACCP): (a) analysis of potential food risks of an operation within the activity of a food sector unit; (b) identification of points within these operations where food risks may appear; (c) establishment of points identified as critical for food safety, called critical points; (d) identification and implementation of effective control procedures and monitoring in these points; and (e) periodic review and whenever a change occurs in the food sector of the analysis of food risks, critical points and monitoring procedures.