The overall objectives of the BTSF Training Programme on Food hygiene primary production - Plant products are:
- to develop a broad knowledge of different hazards (chemical, biological and physical) that can occur along the food chain;
- to provide information about problems that are inherent to specific production, processing, conservation and distribution methotds to identify non-compliance and fraudulent practices;
- to raise awarness and develop knowledge about the EU laws and ensure their correct enforcement;
- to promote a harmonised approch to the operation of EU and national control systems by sharing best practices.
This Training Programme has been designed for the profiles and positions described below. Please verify compliance with the selection criteria before submitting or validating applications.
- Staff of Competent Authorities involved in official control activities.
Selection Criteria
- It should be clear from their background and professional position that the participation in the training activity is a key element for the improvement of their skills and competence for their job.
- The trainees should have the required technical skills related to the fields mentioned under.
- The course will be held in English. In order to be able to understand and actively participate in the sessions, exercises and case studies, we invite you to give priorityto only register the participants who can read and speak English.
- The participants will be requested to commit themselves to use the knowledge gained from the courses and also disseminate it via different dissemination methods i.e. informing colleagues about the information received at the training, distributing (photocopying or sending via electronic way) the training material among their colleagues, preparing informative articles in the professional national or, if possible, in international journals, preparing presentations based on the training material for the National Competent Authorities’ professional trainings or other dissemination methods which could be appropriate to share the information received via the BTSF trainings.
| Session | Start Date | End Date | City | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23/09/2023 | 27/09/2023 | Budapest | Hungary |
| 2 | 30/10/2023 | 03/11/2023 | Valencia | Spain |
| 7 | 22/04/2024 | 26/04/2024 | Valencia | Spain |
| 8 | 03/06/2024 | 07/06/2024 | Valencia | Spain |
| 9 | 30/09/2024 | 04/10/2024 | Bologna | Italy |
The objective of the present programme is to spread knowledge and best practices in relation with general food labelling and claims as well as on specific categories of foods such as food supplements, foods with added vitamins and minerals and foods for specific groups of the population food composition and information, as per the requirements of the EU Food Law. The contract requests the provision of training courses addressing the latest developments, as well as in the implementation of controls.
The objective of this training course is to share good practices and harmonise the implementation among EU Member States of the official controls on food labelling and to inform non-EU countries.
During the course, attendees will look at the food information regulations in detail and experience a number of training situations to explore the regulations. FIC is a horizontal legislation and covers all areas where food is supplied to the consumer. The food retail market is both enormous and vibrant. There are thousands of new food products presented to the EU market every year. The course cannot cover all food products completely. Attendees will therefore role play different situations and products to which the regulations apply. The aim is for participants to learn lessons and to help develop a consistent approach to enforcement with colleagues from other member states.
The BTSF Training Programme on Food information and composition overall objectives are:
Food Information and Legislation:
- In the course, the participants will experience active learning involvements which the team have developed from the experience of the tutors over the previous BTSF programme on FCI. The FCI is detailed in some areas and these details can help in explaining the requirements of the regulations in other areas. The tutors will develop scenarios using their experience in the field and help the participants address the issues and expand their knowledge. The participants can also develop this approach to learning as they will also be able to come with their own ideas and labelling issues and use the expertise of those on the course to develop a more consistent approach to address these local issues thrown up by the FCI.
Nutrition and Health Claims:
- The objective of the training is to improve the knowledge of participants in the field of nutrition and health claims and to exchange information and experiences between officials of the different Member States, in particular concerning the proper enforcement of the Regulation. The aim of the sessions is to explain the variety of claims defined in Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 and under which conditions these claims are allowed to be used. Furthermore, the different procedures for the authorization of health claims, the rules for trademarks and brand names which can be regarded as nutrition or health claims and the labelling requirements will be discussed
Food fortification and Food Supplement:
- The objective of this training course is to harmonise as much as possible the interpretations of relevant European FCI regulations on food supplements and fortified foods and to share good practices on their implementation among EU Member States, giving consideration to the specificities of these particular food products
Food for Specific Groups:
- The objective of the section on Foods for Specific Groups (FSG) is to ensure a common understanding, interpretation and enforcement of the rules covering these products.
- The rules applicable to these products are in a transition period. They are also interconnected with rules applicable to other categories of foods such as food supplements and ordinary foods. The change from the wider concept of foods for particular nutritional uses (PARNUTS) or dietetic foods with the abolition of the category as such is a very important change. The rationale of this change will be explained with reference to abuses that had been identified in the past, in particular those relating to abusive labelling practices that resulted in and may continue to create confusion about the legal identity or categorisation of products that could be FSGs, particularly Foods for Special Medical Purposes (FSMPs), food supplements or ordinary foods with claims.
The course addresses the following topics:
- Food Information and Legislation
- Regulation on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers (1169/2011)
- Lectures with all the slides used
- Delegating and Implementing acts made under 1169/2011
- List of EU legislation with further labelling provisions
- Guidance produced by the Commission on food labelling provisions, including the infographic on food information and the tolerances for nutrition labelling.
- Commission’s Q&A on 1169/2011
- Nutrition and Health Claims
- Nutrition and health claims and how to apply official controls on this matter
- Objectives of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006
- Role of the European Commission and EFSA
- Examples of some exercises with solutions
- Food fortification and Food Supplement
- Consumer information legislation and practice on food supplements and fortified foods
- Definitions of food supplements and fortified foods and their market importance
- Relevant EU regulations
- Examples of some exercises with solutions
- Food for Specific Groups
- Legislation on Food for Specific Groups
- Labelling requirements for Total Diet Replacement Food and Food for Specific Medical Purpose
- Labelling requirements regarding for Baby Food products
The selection criteria for participants are:
- Relevancy to daily work: participants should in priority be staff of Competent Authorities, with a position related to Official Controls;
- Sufficient level of language: in order to ensure the transfer of knowledge and opportunities to exchange views, participants should master the language of the training session for which they applied, if not specified otherwise the official language of the workshops will be English.
- Ability to share their experience: priority will be given to participants whose position will allow them to share with colleagues the outputs of the training sessions.
- Preferably officers working at food control authorities in a central administration level or local administration level and who are responsible for the development, coordination or implementation of the official monitoring and controls plans.
- IT requirements: the participants will need a laptop with up-to-date software, with camera and microphone (built in or external) and reliable WIFI connection.
| Session | Start Date | End Date | location | Organiser |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 19/04/2021 | 23/04/2021 | Online | AETS |
| 14 | 17/05/2021 | 21/05/2021 | Online | AINIA |
| 15 | 07/06/2021 | 11/06/2021 | Online | AETS |
| 16 | 05/07/2021 | 09/07/2021 | Online | AETS |
| 17 | 18/10/2021 | 22/10/2021 | Online | AETS |
| 18 | 13/12/2021 | 17/12/2021 | Online | AETS |
| 19 | 07/02/2022 | 11/02/2022 | Online | AINIA |
| 20 | 14/03/2022 | 18/03/2022 | Online | AETS |
| 21 | 25/04/2022 | 29/04/2022 | Online | AESA |
| 22 | 30/05/2022 | 03/06/2022 | Madrid, Spain | AENOR |
| 23 | 04/07/2022 | 08/07/2022 | Valencia, Spain | AINIA |
| 24 | 31/10/2022 | 04/11/2022 | Bratislava, Slovakia | AETS |
Organisation and implementation of training activities on the implementation of union rules in relation to microbiological criteria and on the monitoring and control of zoonoses agents under the Better Training For Safer Food initiative.
The objective of the MCZ course, (contract n°2017 96 04 / 2017 / CHAFEA / BTSF 04) is to harmonise the approaches and to spread knowledge and best practice concerning:
- Module 1 -General Microbiological Criteria (Course 1: McA)
The training targets participants from the competents authorities of EU member states (75%), Candidate Countries (15%), EFTA/EEA Countries (3%), ENP and Potential Candidates.
| Session | Start Date | End Date | Location | Module |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 09 | 21/06/2021 | 24/06/2021 | Online | McA |
| 10 | 19/07/2021 | 22/07/2021 | Online | McA |
| 11 | 11/10/2021 | 14/10/2021 | Online | McA |
| 12 | 07/12/2021 | 10/12/2021 | Online | McA |
| 13 | 14/02/2022 | 17/02/2022 | Online | McA |
| 14 | 28/03/2022 | 31/03/2022 | Online | McA |
Organisation and implementation of training activities on the implementation of union rules in relation to microbiological criteria and on the monitoring and control of zoonoses agents under the Better Training For Safer Food initiative.
The objective of the MCZ course, (contract n°2017 96 04 / 2017 / CHAFEA / BTSF 04) is to harmonise the approaches and to spread knowledge and best practice concerning:
- Module 3 – Implementation of microbiological criteria (Course 3: Mc B) with the main focus on ready to eat food shelf-life assessment specific to Listeria M.
The training targets participants from the competents authorities of EU member states (75%), Candidate Countries (15%), EFTA/EEA Countries (3%), ENP and Potential Candidates.
| Session | Start Date | End Date | Location | Module |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21/06/2022 | 24/06/2022 | Trim, Ireland | McB |
| 2 | 19/09/2022 | 22/09/2022 | Trim, Ireland | McB |
| 3 | 07/11/2022 | 10/11/2022 | Sofia, Bulgaria | McB |
| 4 | 12/12/2022 | 15/12/2022 | Silema, Malta | McB |
Organisation and implementation of training activities on the implementation of union rules in relation to microbiological criteria and on the monitoring and control of zoonoses agents under the Better Training For Safer Food initiative.
The objective of the MCZ course, (contract n°2017 96 04 / 2017 / CHAFEA / BTSF 04) is to harmonise the approaches and to spread knowledge and best practice concerning:
- Module 2 – Control of zoonoses, with a particular focus on the control of Salmonella in poultry and pigs and Campylobacter along the poultry meat production chain (Course 2: Zoonoses).
The training targets participants from the competents authorities of EU member states (75%), Candidate Countries (15%), EFTA/EEA Countries (3%), ENP and Potential Candidates.
| Session | Start Date | End Date | Location | Module |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 24/05/2021 | 27/05/2021 | Online | Zoonoses |
| 8 | 12/07/2021 | 15/07/2021 | Online | Zoonoses |
| 9 | 27/09/2021 | 30/10/2021 | Online | Zoonoses |
| 10 | 25/04/2022 | 28/04/2022 | Online | Zoonoses |
| 11 | 23/05/2022 | 26/05/2022 | Online | Zoonoses |
| 12 | 11/07/2022 | 14/07/2022 | Trim, Ireland | Zoonoses |
| 13 | 17/10/2022 | 20/10/2022 | Venice, Italy | Zoonoses |
| 14 | 21/11/2022 | 24/11/2022 | Silema, Malta | Zoonoses |
BTSF workshop on Microbiological risks food of non-animal origin.
The overall objectives of the BTSF Training Programme/Course on Supporting effective participation in CODEX activities for CCAfrica countries are:
- To strengthen the capacity of African member countries to participate actively in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its subsidiary bodies.
This Training Programme has been designed for the profiles and positions described below.
- National competent authority in Codex Alimentarius related subjects
- DG SANTE, HaDEA, Contractor, NCPs, officials, others
| Session | Start Date | End Date | City | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 11/10/2022 | 14/10/2022 | Addis Ababa | Ethiopia |
Welcome to the BTSFTraining Programme on Supporting Effective Participation in CODEX Activities for CCEURO countries.
The objective is to strengthen the capacity of the member countries of Europe and Central Asia (other than EU, EFTA and UK) to participate actively in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and its subsidiary bodies.as well as the overall strategy of the BTSF initiative, the following objectives for this training course have been formulated:
- To spread knowledge and experience about the international trading system in agri-food products (WTO, SPS) and the role of international standard setting bodies, with particular focus on the work of Codex.
- To strengthen the capacity of countries in the region to participate actively in the development and implementation of standards by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) and its subsidiary bodies,
- To explain the organization, management and procedures of Codex bodies and support the establishment in participating countries of a strong, solid and sustainable national capacity to engage in Codex.
- To support the use and relevance of Codex standards, guidelines and codes of practice by countries in the region as an essential component of a science- and rule-based food safety system.
This Training Programme has been designed for the profiles and positions described below. Please verify compliance with the selection criteria before submitting or validating applications.
- DG SANTE, HaDEA, Contractor, NCPs, officials, others.
- Invited countries: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Israel. Republic of North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Montenegro, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
| Session | Start date | End date | City | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29/11/2021 | 3/12/2021 | N/A | N/A |
