Potential hazard of chemicals used in plastic manufacturing, including food contact materials
More than 350 million tonnes of plastic are manufactured worldwide every year, and much of it is utilized in the food sector. According to experts at the ETH Zürich university in Switzerland, these plas [...]
High percentages of heavy metals in the French population: food identified as the primary source
Heavy metals are present throughout the French population. This is shown in the ESTEBAN report, released by the government agency Santé publique France, in charge of biosurveillance, which updated [...]
OPSON 2020: 15 000 tonnes of illegal food and beverages removed from the market
OPSON 2020 was a joint operation between Europol and INTERPOL that targeted the trafficking of counterfeit and substandard food and beverages. The operation, which was the eighth of its type, took place from December 2020 [...]
Organic food production safety: is organic food safer?
Organic food is promoted as “better” food. But what does “better” mean? And do industrialised processes mean organic production encounters the same pitfalls as conventional agriculture? Introduction Consumer [...]
The paradox of EU food safety: the 2017 fipronil scandal
European consumers spent years unknowingly eating eggs contaminated by a banned pesticide. Was it really unpredictable? Could it happen again?A brief history On 22 July 2017, Dutch consumers read in their newspapers that the eggs in their [...]
Mycotoxins and food supplements: where are we going?
Dietary supplements: how natural contaminants may turn botanical remedies into a Pandora’s box. Food supplements: a growing market trend According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA 2009), food supplements are “concentrated sou [...]
National registers of severe allergic reactions in Europe: where are we now?
A mandatory, unique, standardized register for all EU member States is necessary, despite the difficulties of implementation. However, such a register is still a long way off. Introduction While most people around the [...]
Mass bee mortality in Russia raises concerns over chemical contamination in the food industry
Russian scientists and environmentalists have raised concerns that some food on the grocery shelves could be contaminated with agricultural chemicals. Abnormal bee mortality in Central Russia caused losses c [...]
Novel food allergies: what do we know so far?
Introducing alternative and sustainable sources of proteins in the human diet is crucial to guarantee nutrition security while reducing the impact on the environment. Allergenicity assessment of novel ingredients aims to provide safe food to consumers. &n [...]
On-site allergen management with a rapid test solution
A perfect tool for implementing the allergen analysis as part of the food safety quality control assessment.It is well known that food allergies are an immune system reaction to a food or a substance in food. Even a tiny amount of allergy-causing [...]
Recent analytical developments in allergen analysis
New assay for measurement of gluten in oats and avoiding false negatives in the analysis of milk substitutes. While there are many kits available for the detection of gluten from wheat, barley and rye, there has not been a reliable kit for the det [...]
Sensitive detection of allergens targeting multi-copy genes
An International Standard based Real-Time PCR detection portfolio.DNA based technology is a relatively new approach for the detection of food allergens, a field traditionally dominated by immunoassays. DNA methods are indirect methods to det [...]
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