The intra EU-trade operators of food of animal origin must register as food business operators to the local food authority. The imported foodstuffs can be of animal origin, plant origin or combination foods.
The import control of foodstuffs of animal origin from EU internal market to Finland is part of the general food control carried out by municipalities. Finnish Customs control the import of food of plant origin and combination foods. All foodstuffs on the market are yet part of the municipal food control. This page clarifies what foods of animal origin and combination foods are.
Foods of animal origin
Foods of animal origin means unprocessed and processed products of animal origin like meat, live bivalve molluscs, fishery products, milk, eggs, frog legs and snails. Foods of animal origin are defined in points 1-7 of annex I of regulation EC 853/2004.
Processing means any action that substantially alters the initial product, including heating, smoking, curing, maturing, drying, marinating, extraction, extrusion or a combination of those processes. Unprocessed products refer to foodstuffs that have not undergone processing. Unprocessed products include products that have been divided, parted, severed, sliced, boned, minced, skinned, ground, cut, cleaned, trimmed, husked, milled, chilled, frozen, deep-frozen or thawed. Processing, as well as processed and unprocessed foods are defined in regulation EC 852/2004.
The terms consignment and batch are also used in connection with the intra EU-trade of foodstuffs.
- consignment means a group of sales units that are of the same food type and produced, manufactured or packed in the same establishment and sent to Finland at the same time. A consignment (for example a load of a vehicle or a pallet) can include one or more batches of the same food type (e.g cheeses).
- batch means an identifiable group of products produced in a certain process, place and time and under the same conditions. For example, a batch of cheese can comprise of only one cheesetype (e.g Emmental).
Examples of foods of animal origin:
- fresh beef, pork, poultry, and other fresh meat as well as minced meat prepared of those
- meat preparations
- viscera, blood and other offals (fresh meat other than that of the carcase)
- cooked or precooked meat and fish products (for example canned meat, meatballs, minced meat patties, foie gras paté, canned tuna and herring, fish balls)
- vegetables filled with fresh meat or fish
- fresh fish, roe and caviar
- fresh bivalve molluscs and crustaceans
- cooked and precooked products prepared of bivalve molluscs or crustaceans
- vegetables filled with fresh bivalve molluscs or crustaceans
- raw milk and heat treated milk (for example pasteurized)
- milk powder
- sour-milk products (for example buttermilk, yogurt, quark)
- fresh and ripened cheeses and other cheese products (for example cheese fondue, breaded cheese sticks)
- raw eggs and other bird eggs, and processed egg products (like egg mass)
- raw or cooked insects of which no parts (such as wings, legs or head) have been removed; insects may be whole or crushed, ground or dried.
Combination foods
Food containing both products of plant origin and processed products of animal origin are not considered as foods of animal origin. These foodstuffs are in this context called combination foods. The definition of combination foods can be found in the point 2 of article 1 in the regulation EC 853/2004: “Unless expressly indicated to the contrary, this Regulation shall not apply to food containing both products of plant origin and processed products of animal origin.”
Examples of combination foods
Food containing both products of plant origin and processed products of animal origin:
- ready-made meals which contain cooked beef, pork, poultry, or fish (for example soups, pizzas)
- confectionery, which contain cooked egg, beef, pork, poultry or fish (for example pies, pasties with egg and rise)
- fish-roe paste
- ready-made mayonnaise
- ice cream
- milk coffee drinks
- vegetables filled with cheese
- infant formulae
- ready-made baby food and meals
- milk-based foods for special medical purposes
- milk-based products for weight management
- caseinate mixtures (the proportion of animal material smaller than plant material)
- food supplements
- chocolate containing insects.