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Federal Food Chain Unit

The Federal Food Chain Unit (FFCU) supports the Federal Office of Agriculture (FOAG) and the FSVO in supervising the implementation within Switzerland of legislation in the areas of plant health, food and feed, animal health and animal welfare.

Guaranteeing food safety at all stages of production – from stable to table – is a complex task. In Switzerland, it is carried out by two Federal Offices and over 50 cantonal offices.

Controls

This short movie shows all partners and their roles in executing official controls along the food chain in Switzerland.

Supervising and the Multi-annual national control plan

The FFCU has the following duties:

It supervises the implementation at cantonal level of legislation in the areas of food safety, animal health and animal welfare.
It checks that inspections of animal feed and imports of animals and animal products are conducted properly at Federal level.
It draws up the multiannual National Control Plan in close cooperation with the two Federal Offices.

Multi-annual national control plan

The multi-annual national control plan (MANCP) for Switzerland contains general information on the structure and the organization of the systems as well as the planned control activities. It is published in German, French, Italian and English. The canton profiles are an integral part of the MANCP for Switzerland. They are – like the MANCP – regularly revised and updated.

MANCP report

Every year the federal offices and the FFCU compile an MANCP report. This report details the results of implementation throughout Switzerland for everything that is described in the MANCP. The report thus serves as a control instrument for steering multi annual planning in the MANCP. A Food chain glossary and abbreviations, FAQ and technical reports supplement the knowledge about the MANCP.