Mineral oil hydrocarbons in food – have your say on the draft!

17-Mar-2023 - EFSA experts provisionally concluded thatmineraloil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) do not pose a health concern. They also confirmed that some substances in the group known asmineraloil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) are a possible health concern. These are some of the conclusions of a ...

‘Use by’ or ‘best before’?

New tool to support food operators

03-Dec-2020 - EFSA has developed a tool to help food business operators decide when to apply the ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ date to their products. The ‘use by’ date on food is about safety – foods can be eaten until this date but not after, even if they look and smell fine. ‘Best before’ refers to quality – ...

Glycoalkaloids in potatoes: public health risks assessed

Peeling, boiling and frying can reduce the content of glycoalkaloids in food

12-Aug-2020 - EFSA has assessed the risks to human and animal health related to the presence of glycoalkaloids in food and feed, particularly in potatoes and products derived from potatoes. Glycoalkaloids are naturally occurring compounds found in the Solanaceae family of plants, which includes potatoes, ...

Pesticide residues in food: risk to consumers remains low

19-Apr-2017 - Food consumed in the European Union continues to be largely free of pesticide residues or to contain residues that fall within legal limits, new figures show. The latest monitoring report published by EFSA reveals that more than 97% of food samples collected across the EU in 2015 were within ...

Updated guidance: how to prepare a health claim application

01-Feb-2017 - EFSA has updated its advice for applicants on how to prepare and present a health claim application. The guidance presents a standardised format for a well-structured application. It also details the kind of information and data applicants need to submit in support of their claim. The guidance ...

OpenFoodTox: EFSA’s new one-click tool for information on chemical hazards

26-Jan-2017 - OpenFoodTox is the new EFSA database that provides instant access to a wealth of information from over 1,650 EFSA scientific outputs about the toxicity of chemicals found in the food and feed chain. An editorial published in the EFSA Journal today describes how to use the database. EFSA ...

Novel and traditional food: guidance finalised

14-Nov-2016 - EFSA has published two guidance documents onnovel foodandtraditional foodfrom third countries to help ensure that these foods are safe before risk managers decide whether they can be marketed in Europe. EFSA developed the guidance following the adoption of thenew European regulationon novel ...

Glyphosate: EFSA to share raw data

05-Oct-2016 - EFSA is to release the raw data used in the recent EU safety evaluation of glyphosate, as part of its commitment to open risk assessment. The information will be shared with a group of MEPs following a public access to document request. When combined with the detailed background documents already ...

Food colours: titanium dioxide marks re-evaluation milestone

15-Sep-2016 - EFSA has completed its re-evaluation of all food colours permitted for use in the European Union before 2009. For the final re-evaluation, EFSA’s experts concluded that available data on titanium dioxide (E 171) in food do not indicate health concerns for consumers. But they recommended new ...

Process contaminants in vegetable oils and foods

03-Jun-2016 - Glycerol-based process contaminants found in palm oil, but also in other vegetable oils, margarines and some processed foods, raise potential health concerns for average consumers of these foods in all young age groups, and for high consumers in all age groups. EFSA assessed the risks for public ...