DG SANTE meeting on anticoagulant Rodenticides - Definition of "Qualified Risk" - please comment until Thursday at 11 am UK time
With reference to the joint statement (see attached) which was sent to the European Commission (DG SANTE) by EuroCommerce (on behalf of all signing associations, including Gafta via COCERAL) back in August 2025. This letter was meant to ask Commission and national authorities to ensure the possibility for European food and feed business operators to keep using anticoagulant rodenticides for permanent baiting not only in situations of detected infestation, but also in situations of qualified risk of infestation.
EUROCOMMERCE met recently DG SANTE on this topic and DG SANTE requested a clear and concrete definition of “qualified risk”, noting its importance for a potential derogation for use of anticoagulant rodenticides by European food and feed business operators.
The proposal of such definition from EUROCOMMERCE is:
“A situation in which, on the basis of a professional risk assessment, the intrusion, infestation or nesting of pest rodents in a building is considered more probable than not, leading to the contamination of food or feed, and in which no alternative methods or measures are available that are capable of preventing the persistence or further spread of the infestation with at least the same degree of timeliness and effectiveness as anticoagulant rodenticides.”
Potentially, the word “persistence” could be considered subjective and therefore we would ask Members if they wish to propose a different term, for example “recurrence” which would imply more than one (quantifiable) infestation requiring the use of rodenticides.
Action: Can you please let SarahMann@gafta.com know, by this Thursday 12 noon UK time, if you agree with such definition?
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