Food Safety Agency

For health professionals in consultations with patients complaining of diarrhea, it is pertinent to ask "Is it oily " and "Have you consumed fish " If answers are confirmative, the case should be reported to food inspection agencies. To follow up on the alert, food inspection agencies should collect the expelled oil sample, a residual sample of the cooked fish (if available), and any uncooked fish from the same source to check for wax esters. If wax esters are detected, DNA analysis should be applied, if possible, to identify the source species. Concurrently during the inspection process, food safety agencies should trace back to the supply source of the fish to see if proper labels were in place. If not,... 

European Food Safety Agency. Guidance Document of the Scientific Panel on Genetically Modified Organisms for the Risk Assessment of Genetically Modified Plants and Derived Food and Feed EFSA Communications Department Parma, Italy, 2006. 

Lack of trust in government food safety agencies has been made worse by the dioxin scare in Europe, where the Belgian government failed to inform the public when they were first aware of the problem. In cases where the U.K. government has had to change its position and its statements, as in the case of mad cow disease, credibility was severely eroded. 

At EU level the Scientific Panel on Food Additives, Havourings, Processing Aids and Materials in Contact with Food (now EFSA = European Food Safety Agency) evaluated the safety of ethyl cellulose and placed no limits for a food (contact)use. Other cellulose derivatives are qualified as direct food additives [114] ... 

Unite Ecotoxicologie-Environnement, DiVE — Direction du Vegetal et de rEnvironnement AFSSA — French Food Safety Agency... 

Allergic reactions to mustard, including severe anaphylactic reactions, are well documented in clinical and laboratory studies. In 1980, Panconesi et al. described a severe anaphylactic reaction attributed to mustard with pizza and in a collection of case reports in the EFSA (European Food Safety Agency) Journal, skin, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular symptoms are described [2]. Symptoms ranged in... 

MRLs currently in force within the 25 members states, and (3) Codex MRLs. Promulgation of a complete set of EU MRLs may take several years to occur based on the complexities of selecting the most appropriate value to reflect differences in GAP among member states and requirements for safety determination via dietary intake assessment. The new European Food Safety Agency (EES A) is expected to play a major role in implementation of the accelerated EU MRL process. A process for establishment of an EU import MRL based on overseas GAP and data will also be available in the future. 

French Food Safety Agency (AFSSA), Quantitative Risk Assessment Unit,... 

From the point of view of known inddenoe, the most important trichothecene is DON. It may also co-occur in grains and feeds with other trichothecenes and zearalenone and other combinations of toxins are possible. The carryover of DON and other trichothecenes into human foods is considerable and a cause of concern for food safety agencies. The carryover of trichothecenes or their metabolites into farm animal products would not ap>p)ear to be a major problem from experimental studies and no cases of their natural occurrence in meat, milk or eggs have been reported (Scott, 1989). 

Legislation on colouring agents for medicines follows Food legislation [63] Azo dyes - especially tartrazine — are suspected of adverse reactions. The latest evaluation by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) resulted in 2009 in a continuation of the allowance [64]. Nevertheless the UK Foods Standards Agency advices that avoiding of colourants in the diet of hyperactive children may have a beneflcial effect. 

Opinion of the French Food Safety Agency on the critical analysis of the results of a developmental neurotoxicity study of bisphenol A together with other recently-published data on its toxic effects", Maisons-Alfort, 29 January 2010, obtained from the website http //www.afssa.fr (access date 05.09.2010)... 

Boon, P.E., Sioen, I., van der Voet, H., Huybrechts, I., De Neve, M., Aminao, P., et at, 2010. Long-term dietary exposure to lead in young children living in different European countries. Scientific Report to EPSA EFSA-Q-2009-00837. European Food Safety Agency. 

A report published by the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) in January 2013 concluded that these pesticides posed a high acute risk to pollinators, including honeybees. Although the evidence is not conclusive, the EU banned the use of three of these neonicotinoid pesticides, clothianidin, thiamethoxam and imidacloprid (currently the most widely used insecticide in the world), for 2 years from 2014 onwards. Time will tell if the bee population recovers. 

Government Accountability Office, Food Safety Agencies Need to Address Gaps in Enforcement and Collaboration to Enhance Safety of Food 14, 17 (2009) Joby Warrick, Overseas Meat Processors Fail to Make Grade, Austin American-Statesman, March 3, 2002, at A19. 

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