The EU hygiene legislation should have made the rules more equal between the different EU countries and clearer for all dairy producers. But it seems every country applies the rules to their own interpretation.

It would be good to have a clear comparison how the different EU countries apply the hygiene legislation for dairy products. How often they audit, what do they audit, what are the costs, what administrative forms have to be filled in, etcetera.

The hygiene legislation applying to dairy products in the European Union changed from 1 January 2006. The new requirements lay down that food business operators are responsible for the safety of their products.

The way the Dutch government applies the new rules there is no difference between the dairy industry and small dairy farms. The only dairy farms that don’t have to register and have no audit costs are the ones that sell - only - directly to customers from their farm shop.

To get approved by HACCP standards every cheese maker – whether industry or farmstead –has to fill out a mass of administrative forms and under go the following minimal audits; once a year an overall audit by COKZ, once every 2 weeks a milk audit, once every 4 weeks a cheese audit. All these audits together have an average yearly cost of €2000.

Farmstead cheese makers know it’s necessary and even want the audits to be made, but applying the new rules has to be feasible for them. Not only cost wise but also time and work wise. The way the rules are applied now the costs and spent time are in no comparison to their small-scale production.

The article ‘Cheese makers controlled to destruction’ in the daily newspaper ‘De Volkskrant’ about the struggle of the farmstead cheese makers with the new rules led to questions in Chamber.

No big changes came from the answers of Minister Klink of the health department, but the small dairy farms got some more recognition. Not just for their beautiful crafts products, but also for their traditional contribution to the countryside landscape.

Now a group of Dutch cheese makers has formed and are deliberating the hygiene legislation with the authorities concerned.

It would be good to have a clear comparison how the different EU countries apply the hygiene legislation for dairy products. How often they audit, what do they audit, what are the costs, what administrative forms have to be filled in, etcetera.

Please share your experiences…