EFSA is looking for a passionate and distinguished scientist, who will be in charge of shaping EFSA’s scientific strategy and will act as our scientific ambassador in high level scientific fora. Fostering cooperation and innovation you will create and nurture scientific networks both inside and outside EFSA.
Risk-benefit assessment (RBA) of food poses significant scientific challenges given the need to weigh the nutritional and health benefits of food types against the potential health risks from hazards such as environmental contaminants present in food. EFSA invites experts in this field to take part in a scientific colloquium on RBA in February 2022.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has re-evaluated the risks of bisphenol A (BPA) in food and proposes to considerably lower the tolerable daily intake (TDI) compared to its previous assessment in 2015. EFSA’s conclusions on BPA are explained in a draft scientific opinion that is open for public consultation until 8 February 2022. All interested parties are encouraged to contribute to the consultation.
The TDI is an estimate of the amount of a substance (expressed on a kilogram body weight basis) that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without appreciable risk. In its 2015 risk assessment of BPA, EFSA set a temporary TDI of 4 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day.
Four lessons have been identified involving regulation during COVID-19 by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
They include the role of early warning and emerging risk systems to help authorities respond quickly to new threats and how by accepting an impact on official controls, agencies can maintain high priority activities during crises and still protect public health.
There was a decline in reports of four foodborne pathogens and the number of incidents and recalls in the past year, according to the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) annual report.
It covers activities in 2020-2021 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK leaving the European Union, as well as enforcement and food crime statistics.
Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) provides new opportunities for improving bacterial food safety but also brings with it some concerns, according to Belgian experts.
Campylobacteriosis was the most reported zoonosis in the EU in 2020, with 120,946 cases compared to more than 220,000 the previous year. It was followed by salmonellosis, which affected 52,702 people compared to 88,000 in 2019. The number of reported foodborne outbreaks also fell by 47%. These findings are based on the annual EU One Health zoonosis report, by EFSA and ECDC.
A decline in foodborne infections ranged from 7 percent to 53 percent in 2020 in Europe largely because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a report.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) report also saw Yersinia retake third place from E. coli for the number of infections.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) today reported that eight Closure Orders and one Prohibition Order were served on food businesses during the month of November for breaches of food safety legislation, pursuant to the FSAI Act, 1998 and the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020. The Enforcement Orders were issued by environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive (HSE).
Norovirus poses the highest burden on society out of 13 pathogens analyzed in the United Kingdom.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) ranked the foodborne pathogens in order of their detrimental effect on UK society. They were Campylobacter, Clostridium perfringens, E. coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella, Shigella, Cryptosporidium, Giardia, adenovirus, astrovirus, norovirus, rotavirus and sapovirus.
What is superchilling and how can it help?
Superchilling technologies, use a technique of cooling a product down to a temperature at which the product starts to freeze, generally around –1.5°C to–2°C, and then storing it at that temperature. At this range some of the product is ice and some contains liquid water – this is called the aqueous phase. The process can be achieved using standard blast chillers.
Emily Miles addressed the 2021 Chartered Institute of Environmental Health's (CIEH) Year Ahead Conference which, in partnership with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), hosted key policy discussions, examining the challenges to the future of public health and the impact of the pandemic.
Almost 50 people fell ill in France with Salmonella infections this past year linked to chicken from one slaughterhouse. Salmonella in beef from Germany was also documented.
Without whole genome sequencing (WGS), the persistent low-level outbreak could have gone undetected, according to a presentation at the European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology conference, organized by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.
The global herb and spice industry, valued at approximately US$4 billion, continues to grow year on year. This industry works extremely hard to ensure they provide consumers with safe and authentic products. However, it is continuously under threat from those less scrupulous operators seeking to profit from the trade in economically motivated adulteration. Opportunities for criminals to adulterate herbs and spices exist at many points along the long and complex supply chains.
The percentage of chicken sold at smaller retailers that is contaminated with high levels of Campylobacter remains above a Food Standards Agency target.
A UK-wide survey sampled 1,008 chickens from August 2019 to October 2020. It looked at levels of Campylobacter on whole fresh retail chickens from independent shops, butchers and smaller chains such as Iceland, McColl’s, Budgens, Nisa, Costcutter and One Stop.
Canada has pulled ahead of the United States in the latest edition of a report that measures food security.
The Economist Impact’s Global Food Security Index (GFSI) has the United States in ninth while Canada is seventh. In the previous edition, the United States was eleventh with Canada in twelfth.
Today marks the final day of World Antibiotic Awareness Week (WAAW) 2021. The campaign aims to increase awareness of global antimicrobial resistance and to encourage best practice among public, health workers and policy makers.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has today published its Consolidated and its Westminster Annual Report and Accounts for the past financial year. These cover our performance and activities in 2020/21 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland at a net cost of £114.2 million.
