A recent JRC study analysed trends in the nutritional quality of the packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage by assessing the level of sugars, salt, saturated fat and fibre of these products sold in supermarkets across Europe. All EU Member States provide dietary recommendations for a healthy diet to their citizens. The foods offered in supermarkets […]
Safety of dietary sugars: draft opinion open for public consultation
EFSA’s expert panel on nutrition has completed its provisional assessment of the safety of dietary sugars following a comprehensive scientific review. Valeriu Curtui, head of EFSA’s Nutrition Unit, said: “This has been a hugely challenging work so far, involving the evaluation of over 30,000 publications. Our experts and staff have made an immense effort to reach this […]
Farm to Fork Strategy: the EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices
Today, the Commission, alongside industry stakeholders, officially launched the EU Code of Conduct on Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices, another deliverable under the Commission’s Farm to Fork Strategy. This Code is an essential part of the EU’s efforts to increase the availability and affordability of healthy and sustainable food options that help reduce our […]
Antimicrobial resistance and the food production environment: sources and control options
Fertilisers of faecal origin, irrigation, and water are the most significant sources of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in plant-based food and/or aquaculture. In terrestrial animal production, potential sources are feed, humans, water, air or dust, soil, wildlife, rodents, arthropods, and equipment, says EFSA. For the first time, EFSA experts have assessed the role of food producing environments in […]
New rules on food transparency and sustainability
New rules on transparency and sustainability will transform the way the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) carries out its role as a risk assessor in the EU food safety system. A new regulation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, which will apply from 27 March, will strengthen the Authority’s ability to […]
A biodegradable food packaging solution that also promises to increase food shelf life
Whilst developing biodegradable food packaging, the EU-funded project YPACK has discovered that integrating zinc oxide and oregano essential oil helps biopapers protect against bacterial contamination in food packaging. This promises to increase the shelf life of fresh products such as meat, fruit, vegetables and fresh pasta. Zinc oxide and oregano essential oil are compounds that […]
Milk, fruits and vegetables distributed to schoolchildren thanks to EU programme
With the start of a new school year, the EU school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme will resume in participating EU countries for 2019-2020. EU school scheme The EU school scheme aims at promoting healthy eating and balanced diets through the distribution of fruit, vegetables and milk products while also proposing educational programmes on agriculture […]
The Commission approves four new protected appellations of origin in Spain and Italy.
The European Commission has approved the application for the inclusion of ‘La Jaraba’, ‘Vallegarcía’, ‘Los Cerrillos’ and ‘Nizza’ in the register of protected designations of origin (PDO). “Los Cerillos” and “Vallegarcía” include wines made from grape varieties grown in the province of Ciudad Real in central Spain. The red wines under the name “La Jaraba” […]