Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi, in a written answer on 22 June 2026, defended the European Commission's decision not to suspend imports of Chinese poultry meat products following a November 2025 audit that found serious food safety deficiencies. The answer, responding to a question from Dutch MEP Sander Smit (ECR), outlines the Commission's risk management approach and signals a follow-up audit later this year, while leaving importers and consumers without specific product-level traceability data.
The audit, completed in November 2025 and published on 12 February 2026, revealed that Chinese slaughterhouses failed to meet EU standards: carcasses with visible faecal contamination were merely rinsed instead of discarded, and traceability was so poor that meat origin could not be verified. Despite these findings, imports continued during the three-month gap between audit completion and publication. Commissioner Várhelyi explained that the Commission considered several mitigating factors: EU rules already ban imports of fresh poultry meat from China, and all Chinese poultry meat products must be sterilised—except those from Shandong province, which require a less severe heat treatment (minimum core temperature of 70°C). Additionally, the Commission noted a low incidence of alerts in the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) for Chinese poultry imports.
In response to the audit, China submitted a corrective action plan, which the Commission assessed as satisfactory, contingent on timely and effective implementation. A follow-up audit is scheduled for 2026. The Commission did not suspend imports under Article 128 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, arguing that the risk management procedure, including the existing sterilisation requirement and China's action plan, provided sufficient safeguards. However, the answer did not provide the specific tonnage of poultry meat that entered the EU between the audit and publication, nor did it identify the Member States, importers, or products involved, as requested by MEP Smit. The Commission stated that Member States were informed via the publication of the audit report on 19 February 2026. In 2025, Member States imported 73,000 tonnes of poultry meat products from China.
The policy orientation of the answer is one of cautious continuity: the Commission maintains its zero-tolerance rhetoric but relies on existing mitigation measures and Chinese commitments rather than immediate import suspensions. This approach balances food safety concerns with trade relations, but leaves stakeholders—particularly EU consumers and importers—without granular traceability or a clear timeline for corrective action. The follow-up audit in 2026 will be a key test of whether the Commission's trust in China's action plan is justified. Institutional follow-up is expected in the form of the audit report, which could trigger further measures if deficiencies persist.