What is the EU Food Safety Strategy?

Creating a sustainable food system is one of the EU’s goals, while ensuring that the food on the tables of all countries is healthy and safe.

The European institutions care about what their citizens eat and want to make sure that all food is good for them and reasonably priced.

This is the EU Food Security Strategy

The European Commission advocates healthy and sustainable food while defending farmers’ livelihoods. The EU strategy aims to reduce the use of pesticides by up to 50%, fertilisers by 20% and to use 25% of available land for organic farming.

Furthermore, according to studies carried out by the European Parliament, agriculture is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, which makes it urgent to undertake reforms in food production.

These products must also be affordable for the public purse. To this end, the European Commission has taken measures to combat rising food prices, prevent social inequality and avoid food shortages, so that food can be incorporated into diets in every corner of the continent.

How much do households spend on food and alcohol?

Who guarantees food security?

There are several institutions in charge of ensuring that food safety is complied with in Europe.

Currently, and as stated by the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN), there are three European Commission regulations in force in our country, relating to microbiological criteria, official controls and quality control standards in the meat produced and consumed.

One of the European projects that guarantee healthy food is ‘From farm to fork’, which ensures food hygiene, animal health, plant health and contaminant controls.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) protects consumers from food risks by providing scientific advice on food-related risks.

The new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is much more sustainable and, to translate it into numbers, should ensure that Member States devote at least 35% of the budget to rural development and another 25% to climate and environmental measures.

A healthy diet to ensure health

In Spain, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE), ischaemic heart disease was the second leading cause of death, followed by cardiovascular diseases. Many of these deaths are related to poor or, at least, unhealthy diets.

When designing a healthy diet we could include novel foods, or foods not consumed in Europe until 1997. These foods include genetically modified foods, chemical compounds that are beneficial to health and act as supplements, and products imported from outside Europe’s borders, but which, thanks to the globalisation of markets, are now part of the European diet.

Finally, we give you some tips for a healthy diet based on what the WHO says: include fruit, vegetables, pulses, nuts and vegetables, reduce the amount of salt and opt for unsaturated fats.

More information

European Commission