Document type: DG SANTE audit report 2021-72436 of the European Commission
Preview: This report describes the outcome of an audit of Greece, carried out from 1 to 15 November 2021 as part of Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety work programme.The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of official controls to ensure the protection of the welfare of laying hens at all the stages of production.
The report concludes that the competent authorities responsible for the welfare of laying hens have put official control arrangements in place. These include a methodology for risk based planning; procedures and checklists for officials carrying out controls; and procedures to verify control effectiveness.
A strength of the system is the mandatory checking of compliance with animal welfare requirements before establishments seeking to keep laying hens are registered and permitted to starting operations. However, weaknesses in the instructions for officials and the absence of checks in hatcheries, breeding and pullet farms create important gaps. This has led to animal welfare problems (e.g. overcrowding of cages), which largely remain undetected.
The system of control on egg labelling and the coordination between the authorities involved, ensure that producers label eggs with the correct production codes.
In general, in all regions evaluated by the audit, local competent authorities carry out official controls in line with the annual plan.
The system does not guarantee the welfare of laying hens. For example, it does not prevent overstocking of cages; correcting critical non-compliances can take a long time; and the absence of reports from many regions means that it is unclear whether or not they implement controls.
The combination of weaknesses in the:
- verification of control activities,
- the risk based planning of official controls,
- and the implementation of the planned controls
results in a limited capacity to verify compliance, and address animal welfare issues that exist.
The report contains recommendations to the competent authorities aimed at areas where improve-ments are required.
