The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published guidelines for reporting whole genome sequencing (WGS) data in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2025/179, which requires Member States to conduct WGS on the isolates of five important pathogens during the investigations of foodborne illness outbreaks and sets data-sharing parameters.
A study used machine learning to analyze WGS data for Salmonella isolates from ten European nations. The findings reveal that poultry and pigs remain the dominant sources of human salmonellosis. Notable cross-border transmission underscores the need for internationally harmonized control strategies.
The European Commission has announced several new measures to significantly expand and strengthen its controls for food and feed products entering the EU, including increased audits in third countries and at EU borders, additional checks for frequently non-compliant countries and commodities, a dedicated task force, and other changes.
According to the newly published European Union One Health 2024 Zoonoses Report, the number of foodborne illnesses and outbreaks reported in the EU are on an upward trend. Notably, listeriosis cases with severe outcomes have risen.
The European Commission recently published a dashboard that maps all food fraud cases covered in the Joint Research Center (JRC’s) monthly food fraud reports since 2016, including more than 2,000 cases and counting.
An EU court has ruled that the temporary extension of pesticide approvals may not be granted automatically or systematically due to delays in the safety reassessment process, and annulled the existing temporary approvals of boscalid, dimoxystrobin, and glyphosate.
In the U.S., as part of the appropriations bill ending the government shutdown, Congress closed the 2018 Farm Bill loophole allowing the sale of hemp-derived THC products, such as edibles and beverages. At the same time, in the EU, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) set a safe intake level for Delta-8 THC in food.
A new study underscores that the level of consumer protection afforded by the food import control measures established in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/1793 may not be proportionate to the resources invested.
The Trade Control and Expert System (TRACES) is the EU’s digital platform for managing sanitary, phytosanitary, and food safety certification to support the trade of regulated products.
ECDC has provided an update on a multi-year, multi-national outbreak of Salmonella Strathcona linked to tomatoes from Sicily, Italy, which has grown to 437 confirmed cases in 17 European countries, plus the UK, the U.S., and Canada.
