COCERAL and its members have always been extremely aware of and committed to their responsibility to make sure that food and feed safety risks are properly controlled, that traded products are safe and compliant with the relevant EU legislation.

COCERAL therefore welcomed the opportunity given to the food & feed chain in Regulation (EC) No 183/2005 laying down requirements for feed hygiene and Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, to prepare sectorial voluntary guides to good practice and to update them on a regular basis.

COCERAL together with COGECA, representing the agri-cooperatives throughout the EU, therefore developed a comprehensive guide to good hygiene practices addressing general requirements as well as sector-specific provisions which is entitled “European Good Hygiene Practices Guide for the collection, storage, trading and transport of cereals, oilseeds and protein crops”.

This latter aims to prevent or reduce the risks of biological, chemical and physical contamination that were identified in the hazard analysis, adapted by each operator according to the activities they control. They need to identify whether some of their outlets have specific requirements in respect of some identified hazards and, if necessary, increase their vigilance on the prevention of cross-contamination.

This joint Guide underwent an in-depth assessment by the EU Member States and the European Commission services and was officially and successfully assessed on 20 July 2010. By doing so, the public authorities acknowledged the existence of good hygiene practices relating to a given profession when performing their official controls. The titles and references of the EU Guide were consequently published on 30 July 2010 in the Official Journal of the EU, C 206, page 3.

COCERAL and COGECA are regularly considering the need to improve the current version of the document so as to ensure that it remains practicable and in line with technological, scientific and regulatory developments.

Please click here for the full text of the Guide to good practice.

Based on this EU Good Hygiene Practices Guide, COCERAL has developed a new version of the GTP Code which is conceived as a modular part of a quality management system covering the whole food and feed chain. The main principles of the GTP Code are its voluntary nature, verification and certification by independent third parties and a quality management in accordance with the HACCP principles. Additional information and documentation are available on the official GTP website at www.gtpcode.eu