Decree-Law No. 25/2009 approving the Regulation on the General Hygiene Standards for Foodstuffs. Country/Territory Cabo Verde Document type Legislation Date 2009 Source FAO, FAOLEX Original source Boletim Oficial, Série I, No. 29. Subject Food & nutrition Keyword Food quality control/food safety HACCP Monitoring Packaging/labelling Procedural matters Public health Risk assessment/management Treated food Standards Consumer protection Basic legislation Geographical area Africa, Atlantic Ocean Islands, North Atlantic, Sahel, Small Island Developing States, Western Africa Entry into force notes This Decree-Law enters into force six months after its publication. Abstract This Decree-Law approves the Regulation on the General Hygiene Standards for Foodstuffs. The Regulation, consisting of 24 articles divided into nine Chapters, establishes the general hygiene rules to which foodstuffs are subject and the requirements for verifying its compliance, taking into consideration that the safety of food is a primary concern of citizens, consumer protection associations and public authorities. The provisions of this Decree-Law do not affect the application of rules that establish more demanding special regimes in terms of food hygiene. These rules apply to production, including primary production, transformation, manufacturing, packaging, storage, transport, distribution, handling and sale of foodstuffs, including their import and export. The following activities are not covered by this legal text: a) Primary production destined for private domestic use; b) Preparation, handling and domestic storage of food for private domestic consumption; and c) Direct supply, by the producer, of small quantities of primary production products to the final consumer or to the local retail trade that directly supplies the final consumer. Food hygiene standards comply with the following principles: a) Primary responsibility of food business operators for food safety; b) Food safety throughout the food chain, starting with primary production; c) Importance of maintaining the cold chain in the case of foodstuffs that cannot be safely stored at room temperature, in particular frozen food ; d) The general application of procedures based on the principles of the Hazard Analysis System and Critical Control Points (HACCP), associated with the observance of good hygiene practices as a way of reinforcing the responsibility of food business operators; e) Codes of good practice as a valuable tool to assist food business operators, at all levels of the food chain, in complying with hygiene rules and HACCP principles; f) Need to establish microbiological criteria and temperature control requirements based on a scientific risk assessment. Full text Portuguese Website www.legis-palop.org