As of November 16, 2023, there are 34 known cases of acute lead toxicity linked to recalled fruit puree pouches in the U.S. FDA has alluded to an unconfirmed theory that the common source of contamination may be an imported ingredient used in the products.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has introduced TKPlate, a new platform that can model and predict the toxicity and toxicokinetics of chemicals used in foods, which will help reduce the amount of animal testing used in food safety assessments.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a letter to the Government of Minnesota requiring the state to address dangerous levels of nitrate contamination in its drinking water.
A federal appeals court has overturned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) 2021 ban on all uses of the toxic pesticide chlorpyrifos in food crops.
The Swedish Food Agency's sampling of pesticide residues in food during 2021 has shown that, similarly to previous years, the majority of foods tested did not contain pesticides that exceeded EU maximum residue limits (MRLs), although rice was the biggest offender.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is resuming its assessment of nitrates and nitrites in drinking water under the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), which was suspended in 2018.
A recent study funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has provided strong evidence linking the ingestion of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are present in food packaging and pervasive in drinking water, to thyroid cancer.
Due to concerns about harms to human health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has proposed to revoke the regulation that authorizes the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food. The agency also announced its intent to review three other possibly toxic, FDA-regulated food additives that were recently banned in the state of California, and announced that a decision about red dye 3 is forthcoming.
A recent Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)/World Health Organization (WHO) Expert Consultation on Risks and Benefits of Fish Consumption has concluded that, while the nutritional and health value of eating fish is undeniable, more research is required about the toxic effects of exposure to methylmercury and dioxins from consuming fish.
PFAS concentrations, which do not break down easily in the body, tend to increase rather than diminish over time. In light of these concerns and the prevalence of PFAS in consumer products like food packaging, many state and local governments, as well as public interest organizations, have begun enacting or promoting legislation that would regulate the implementation of PFAS in consumer products.