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Food Safety

Annual reports

Our annual reports describe the overall outcome of the national and Commission control activities to ensure a high level of health protection and trust in the areas of food and feed law, animal health and welfare, plant health and plant protection products. These areas are critically important in the daily lives of the people living in the European Union (EU). They are also key to enabling the smooth operation of trade in food, animals and plants, both within the EU itself and with non-EU countries.

EU countries are responsible for the implementation of risk-based official controls, which aim to verify that operators in the agri-food chain comply with EU law and, where this is not the case, the national authorities are expected to enforce these laws and take steps to bring those operators back into compliance. Through control activities, including audits, the Commission services verify the implementation of official controls and related enforcement activities by the EU countries.

The Commission’s annual reports cover the overall operation of controls in EU countries in the light of:

  • the annual reports submitted by the national authorities on the implementation of their official controls; and
  • the outcome of Commission controls carried out in the EU countries.

The most recent report from the Commission covers the year 2021.

This report presents EU wide data on the total number of entities active in the food chain and subject to official controls. It also provides details on the numbers and results of these official controls; these data are presented in EU-wide statistics and (info)graphs, based on the data submitted by the EU countries for 2021.

The report is accompanied by Staff Working Documents, which provides further information about the controls carried out by the national authorities and by the Commission in the areas of food and feed safety, animal and plant health, animal welfare, pesticides, organic farming and quality schemes.

These reports are produced in accordance with Article 114 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625.

Official Controls - Annual report 2021
12 MAY 2023
Official Controls - Annual report 2021
English
(HTML)
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12 MAY 2023
Official Controls - Annual report 2021- Staff Working Document
English
(HTML)
Download

Reports on the operation of official controls in Member States

Annual reports: 1998-2008

Further information

Annual reports

Our annual reports describe the overall outcome of national and Commission control activities to ensure a high level of health and food safety.

Work programmes

Our annual work programme identifies the work priorities in context of identified risks, legal obligations and Commission priorities.

Audit reports

Search and view Audit reports produced by the department.

Overview reports

Search and view Overview reports produced by the department.

Audit map

View the map, select a country to see a list of audits.

Country profiles

A compilation of key information for each Member State.

News

See our latest publications and news.

Videos

A selection of videos to help demonstrate what we do.