Positive vote on the European Commission proposal to reduce the presence of acrylamide in food

Posted On By In Notizie

Click here to read the article in Italian

 

On 19 July 2017, Member States representatives voted in favour of European Commission’s proposal to reduce the presence of acrylamide in food.

Acrylamide is a carcinogenic substance that appears in food during high temperature processing, such as frying, roasting and baking. This substance forms from naturally present free asparagine and sugars, particularly in potato-based products, cereal-based products, coffee and coffee substitutes.

The presence of acrylamide in food was detected in 2002. In 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) confirmed that acrylamide is a carcinogenic substance and that current levels of dietary exposure to acrylamide indicate a concern. Following EFSA’s opinion, and considering that voluntary mitigation measures by Member States to reduce the presence of acrylamide in foods varied widely, the Commission started discussions with Member States’ authorities which ended with a favourable vote for the above mentioned proposal.

Before the final adoption by the Commission, the text of the proposal will be sent to the Council and the European Parliament, which will have three months to examine it.

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, stated that: “Today we took an important step in protecting the health and well-being of citizens. The new regulation will not only help to reduce the presence of this carcinogenic substance but also will help raise awareness on how to avoid the exposure to it that oftentimes comes from home-cooking.”

 

Further information is available at the following LINK.

 

Giovanna Bagnardi e Davide Scavuzzo

The Council of the EU has launched the new awareness raising strategy for plant health

Posted On By In Notizie

Click here to read the article in Italian

 

On 14 June 2017, the Chief plant health officers, the working party of the Council of the European Union that reports on overall issues and strategic aspects of EU policies in the area of plant health, agreed to launch a new and comprehensive awareness raising strategy for plant health in the European Union.

The European Union has recently faced various crises and emergencies due to outbreaks and findings of plant pests in its territory, as in the case of Xylella fastidiosa or pine wood nematode.

The new strategy consists of five suggested priority actions, to be carried out by both Member States and the Commission, and aims at helping national authorities to give appropriate information to all the involved parties in the prevention of and reaction to potentially devastating plant pests. The five suggested priority actions consist in:

  • the development of awareness-raising strategies;
  • the creation of a Commission working group of Member States experts;
  • the creation of toolkit and awareness-raising materials;
  • the engagement with target groups and training of communicators; and
  • activities of monitoring and evaluation.

The awareness raising strategy for plant health in the EU will play a key role in the context of the International year of plant health, which should be held in 2020.

 

Further information are available at the following LINK.

 

Giovanna Bagnardi e Davide Scavuzzo