1. Food business operators carrying out primary production and those associated operations listed in Annex I shall comply with the general hygiene provisions laid down in Part A of Annex I and any specific requirements provided for in Regulation (EC) No.../2004 (*1).
2. Food business operators carrying out any stage of production, processing and distribution of food after those stages to which paragraph 1 applies shall comply with the general hygiene requirements laid down in Annex II and any specific requirements provided for in Regulation (EC) No.../2004 (*1).
3. Food business operators shall, as appropriate, adopt the following specific hygiene measures:
(a)
compliance with microbiological criteria for foodstuffs;
(b)
procedures necessary to meet targets set to achieve the objectives of this Regulation;
(c)
compliance with temperature control requirements for foodstuffs;
(d)
maintenance of the cold chain;
(e)
sampling and analysis.
4. The criteria, requirements and targets referred to in paragraph 3 shall be adopted in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 14(2).
Associated sampling and analysis methods shall be laid down in accordance with the same procedure.
5. When this Regulation, Regulation (EC) No/2004 (*2) and their implementing measures do not specify sampling or analysis methods, food business operators may use appropriate methods laid down in other Community or national legislation or, in the absence of such methods, methods that offer equivalent results to those obtained using the reference method, if they are scientifically validated in accordance with internationally recognised rules or protocols.
6. Food business operators may use the guides provided for in Articles 7, 8 and 9 as an aid to compliance with their obligations under this Regulation.