Document type: DG SANTE audit report 2022-7504 of the European Commission
Author: DG SANTE
Preview: This report describes the outcome of an audit of Italy, carried out remotely from 11 to 15 February and 2 of May, and on-the-spot from 26 to 29 April 2022 as part of Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety work programme.
The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the official controls on the protection of unweaned calves (still on a milk diet) during long journeys. Italy is a point of destination (mainly seasonal) of long journeys with unweaned calves.
The report concludes that:
- the Italian authorities invested significant resources in official controls on animal welfareduring transport, with these resources focusing mainly on controls during the journey (road side checks and during transit in controls posts) and on arrival at slaughterhouses;
- transport of unweaned calves are a small part of the long journey into Italy and, with the criteria used to target official controls, there are almost no hecks on long journeys of unweaned calves other than when transiting through control posts.
- the lack of some central level instructions, with the high number (228) of local veterinaryunits implementing the official controls, and the absence of documented control verification procedures and of recent audits in this area resulted in inconsistencies in the official controls (particularly in relation to approval of trucks for long journeys) which remained uncorrected;
- enforcement (including sanctions) is correctly applied whenever the official controls detectnon-compliances.
The report contains recommendations to the competent authorities aimed at addressing areas in which further improvements are required or to address the shortcomings identified.
