The Association of Cereal Food Manufacturers (ACFM) has reportedly asked the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) to delay a forthcoming public health initiative that warns of excessive salt content in cereals and other products. Slated for release next month, the TV and radio advertisements are part of an ongoing FSA effort to reduce the average adult’s salt consumption to 6 grams per day by 2010. According to the agency, the latest £3 million salvo in this campaign does not seek to explicitly “demonize” cereal manufacturers, but instead targets all food products that contain salt. FSA has since declined to pull the commercials, but has praised ACFM members for reducing the salt content of their products by 44 percent since 1998. The cereal trade group has also reiterated that cereals account for less than 5 percent of the total salt consumed by UK adults. “We don’t believe it’s appropriate, considering the…
Category Archives Europe
The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is reportedly seeking comments on a proposal to include acrylamide on its hazardous chemicals list along with 14 additional “Substances of Very High Concern” (SVHC). Tendered by the European Environment Agency and several member states, the proposal would classify acrylamide, which forms in some foods during high-temperature cooking, as a category 2 carcinogen and a category 2 mutagen. If unanimously confirmed as an SVHC by ECHA’s Member State Committee, acrylamide would become eligible for the list of substances subject to authorization under EU’s REACH legislation. ECHA will accept comments focusing on the hazardous properties of acrylamide until October 15, 2009. See FoodProductionDaily. com and IHS News, September 2, 2009. In a related development, new consumer research has reportedly shown that a majority of U.S. consumers are unaware of acrylamide as a suspected carcinogen, even as governmental actions in North America have intensified to deal with…
The European Commission (EC) has reportedly entered the second phase of a crackdown on functional food health claims advertising a product’s purported health benefits. EC regulations currently require the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to draw up a “positive list” of permitted health claims by 2010, but the commission is now discussing further restrictions on functional foods that also contain high levels of sugar, saturated fat or salt. According to EFSA, the agency has received “4,185 main health claim entries” that each comprise “a food component, a health relationship and an example of wording.” This review process “takes into account the conditions of use and references available for around 10,000 similar health claims.” Meanwhile, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has asked the commission to restrict advertising for products with more than 15 percent sugar content, although the final threshold appears likely to fall between 20-25 percent sugar content. Several…
European agricultural ministers have approved the sale of meat and milk from the direct offspring of cloned animals, but those products reportedly still have to receive the approval of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) before they can be sold in the European Union. Meat and milk from cloned animals themselves cannot be sold. An EFSA report issued in July 2008 apparently concluded that “there is no indication that differences exist in terms of food safety for meat and milk of clones and their progeny compared with those from conventionally bred animals. Such a conclusion is based on the assumption that meat and milk are derived from healthy animals, which are subject to relevant food safety controls.” The agency has conceded that the limited number of studies does cast uncertainty on the risks related to consumption of food derived from cloned animals. In 2008, the Food and Drug Administration approved…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) and the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) have published a joint report on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), concluding that “food-producing animals such as pigs, veal calves and broiler chickens often carry without symptoms a specific strain of MRSA called CC398.” The report apparently warns that farm workers, veterinarians and their families face the greatest risk of contracting CC398, which has been “associated, albeit rarely, with serious skin and soft tissue infections, pneumonia and blood poisoning in humans.” EFSA has noted, however, that even if food becomes tainted with MRSA, “there is currently no evidence that eating or handling contaminated food can lead to an increased risk for humans.” The agencies have also stated that “as animal movement and contact between live animals and humans are likely to be important factors in the transmission of MRSA, the most…
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Margaret Hamburg has reportedly indicated that the agency will review its 2008 decision that bisphenol A (BPA) in children’s food and beverage containers is, for the most part, safe. An agency spokesperson has apparently indicated that a new decision on the chemical, which is also used to seal canned food containers, will be released within “weeks not months.” The action comes after House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) asked the commissioner to reconsider the agency’s decision in light of “longstanding questions about the scientific data relied on by FDA under the previous Administration, as well as new press accounts detailing the influence of industry lobbyists on FDA’s scientific analyses.” Waxman cites several Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel articles, based on agency emails and a leaked industry report of a public relations strategy meeting, apparently indicating that (i) “when FDA conducted its review of BPA,…
A European Union (EU) ban on U.S. wines violating rules about the use of terms such as “clos” and “chateau” apparently took effect in March 2009. With strict regulations about the use of words like “Champagne,” “Chablis” and “Burgundy,” the EU has been feuding with the United States at least since 2002, and has ended a three-year waiver extended to U.S. vintners in 2006. The United States considers these terms to be “semi-generic,” descriptive of wine styles and not French geography. A number of Sonoma County, California, wineries have reportedly been affected; they include Clos du Bois, Chateau St. Jean, Clos Du Val, and Clos Pegase. According to a news source, the term “clos,” which means “enclosure,” can appear on a French wine label only if the vineyard using the term produces and bottles its own wine. See Miami Herald, March 27, 2009. Meanwhile, a study published in March 2009…
EU environment ministers have reportedly upheld the sovereign right of nations to outlaw genetically modified (GM) crops even when approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The European Commission (EC) had asked the ministers to overturn Austria’s and Hungary’s ban on a GM maize produced by Monsanto, but 22 states backed the countries’ measures over the opposition of the United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Finland, and Sweden. Green MEP Caroline Lucas then accused the commission of trying to “bulldoze through their pro-GM agenda in spite of public opposition.” “I just hope that [EC President José Manuel Barroso] will realize the commission needs to change its position of GMOs,” Lucas was quoted as saying. The ministers will next week consider a similar GM maize ban pending in France and Greece. Although the European Union currently imports animal feed made with GM crops, member states have balked at allowing farmers to cultivate…
German authorities have reportedly asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to provide a risk assessment for 4-methylbenzophenone, a food packaging chemical similar to benzophenone and hydroxybenzophenone that both have a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 0.01 mg/kilogram of body weight. Officials alerted EFSA through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed after a customer identified the common photo-inhibitor in a chocolate crunch muesli product at levels approaching 798 µm/kilogram parts per billion (ppb). The European Commission has also requested a reevaluation of the TDI set for the two related chemicals. EFSA anticipates that it will publish its assessment of 4-methylbenzophenone by March 3, 2009, with an opinion on other food contact materials, enzymes, flavorings and processing aids expected by the end of May. See FoodProductionDaily.com, February 24, 2009.
The House of Lords Science & Technology Committee has created a subcommittee to investigate the use of nanotechnology in the food sector. Led by Lord John Richard Krebs, the inquiry will focus on food products, additives and supplements; food contact packaging; food processing; animal feed; pesticides and fertilizers; and food containers and utensils. “We intend to highlight those areas where our understanding of the use of nanotechnologies in food needs the most urgent attention, allowing us to take action to ensure appropriate steps are taken,” Krebs was quoted as saying. See Foodbev.com, February 4, 2009. The subcommittee has also issued a call for evidence seeking input on a range of issues involving (i) the state of the science and its current use in the food sector; (ii) health and safety; (iii) regulatory framework; and (iv) public engagement and consumer information. The deadline for written submissions is March 13, 2009. See House…
