Belize and UAE are the latest countries to complete national food safety system reviews using the FAO/WHO Food Control System Assessment Tool, resulting in the development of strategic action plans to advance competencies and align with internationally recognized food safety standards.
The French agency ANSES published the results of a two-year, national sampling and testing assignment for “forever chemicals” in drinking water, which was conducted to inform future monitoring strategies. Although most analyzed samples fell below regulatory limits for PFAS, TFA was found in 92 percent of samples.
As of December 2, laboratory-confirmed cases in the ongoing Salmonella outbreak linked to pistachios has reached 155, and CFIA now requires importers and manufacturers of Iranian pistachios to hold and test their products for Salmonella before they can be sold.
As part of the EU authorization procedure for a new food additive application, EFSA conducted a risk assessment for jagua (genipin-glycine) blue, which concluded no safety concern and established an acceptable daily intake (ADI). The fruit-derived food dye is already permitted in the U.S.
A European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) draft scientific opinion, which lowers the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) for dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), is available for public feedback. The new TWI is exceeded by Europeans in all age groups.
A new study demonstrated how public health and regulatory initiatives targeting “ultra-processed foods” (UPFs) may have unintended consequences if definitions for the category and mechanistic understandings of processing are not refined.
A study spanning 15 countries in five continents has revealed that free-range chicken eggs collected near waste sites contain “alarming”levels of toxic flame retardant chemicals. The authors call for stronger national policies and international guidance to protect vulnerable communities.
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.
The 48th session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC48) included discussions by different Codex committees, offering insight into the ongoing work to advance international food safety standards.
Health Canada has determined that foods derived from cloned cattle and swine are safe and should no longer be considered novel foods, and has proposed policy revisions that would regulate these foods in the same manner as their traditional counterparts.
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