European Food Authority Research Articles

Sex differences in the pharmacokinetics and tissue residues of Macleaya cordata extracts in rats

Macleaya cordata extracts (MCE) are listed as feed additives in animal production by the European Food Authority. The core components of MCE are mainly sanguinarine (SA) and chelerythrine (CHE). This study aims to investigate sex differences in the pharmacokinetics and tissue residues of MCE in rats. Male and female rates were intragastrically administered MCE (1.25 mg·kg−1 body weight and 12.5 mg·kg−1 body weight dose for 28 days). SA and CHE concentrations were determined using high-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry. The peak plasma concentration (C max) and area under the curve (AUC) of both CHE and SA were higher in female than in male rats (12.5 mg·kg−1 body weight group), whereas their half-life (T 1/2) and apparent volume of distribution (V d) was lower (p < 0.05). Tissue rfesidue analysis indicated that SA and CHE were more distributed in male than in female rats and were highly distributed in the caecum and liver. SA and CHE were completely eliminated from the liver, kidney, lung, heart, spleen, leg muscle, and caecum after 120 h, indicating they did not accumulate in rats for a long time. Overall, we found that the pharmacokinetics and tissue residues of SA and CHE of male and female rats showed sex differences.

Distribution of perfluoroalkyl acids in fish species from the Baltic Sea and freshwaters in Finland

Occurrence and distribution of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), a sub-category of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), is widespread in the environment. Food, especially fish meat, is a major pathway via which humans are exposed to PFAAs. As fish is an integral part of Nordic diet, therefore, in this study, several fish species, caught in selected Baltic Sea basins and freshwater bodies of Finland, were analysed for PFAAs. Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was detected in all Baltic Sea fish samples and in >80% fish samples from freshwaters. PFOS contributed between 46 and 100% to the total PFAA concentration in Baltic Sea fish samples and between 19 and 28% in fish samples from freshwaters. Geographically, concentration ratios of PFOS to other PFAAs differed between fish from the Baltic Sea and Finnish lakes suggesting that distribution of PFAAs differ in these environments. Results were compared with current safety thresholds – environmental quality standard for biota (EQSbiota) set by the European Commission and a group tolerable weekly intake (TWI) for the sum of four PFASs (∑PFAS-4) i.e. perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) and PFOS, recommended by the European Food Authority (EFSA). EQSbiota compliance was observed for PFOS in all species except smelt caught in the Baltic Sea and also in the River Aurajoki, where smelt had migrated from the Baltic Sea for spawning. Moderate consumption of most Baltic fishes (200 g week−1) results in an exceedance of the new TWI (4.4 ng kg−1 body weight week−1) for ∑PFAS-4.

Segurança alimentar em produtos tradicionais

There are an increasing concern from society in consuming food products that are in good conditions and, at least, do not damage human health and life. Several entities had been involved in assuring that the foods supplied to the consumers are proper and innocuous. This is the main goal of food safety, a subject analysed in “White Paper for Food Safety” (2000). This document proposed the creation, in Europe, of the European Food Authority and established a methodology based in four main principles: the characterization of the whole food chain; the traceability of foods and feeds; the responsibility of the several operators; and risk analysis. The precautionary principle and the rapid alert system are also important. Risk analysis, the base of the food safety policies, is composed by three components interconnected but performed by different entities: the risk assessment, the risk management and the risk communication. According this, the European Food Authority, named European Food Safety Agency (EFSA), is responsible by the risk analysis and by the risk communication, tasks developed in conditions of independence, excellency and transparency. The risk management, realized by the European Commission, must guarantee that the several Members States will adopted correctly the legislation produced taking into account the results of risk assessment. Respecting the main principles formerly mentioned, it was decided to build a coherent and transparent set of rules, commonly named “Food Hygiene Package”, that shall apply after 1st January 2006. The objective of this legislation is to condense, to harmonize and to simplify the application of all hygiene rules, dispersed in a considerable number of legal instruments and to manage the food safety. It is an integrated approach of the hygiene rules applied to the whole food chain, aiming to assure a high level of protection of human life and health, to reduce trade barriers and to submit all food operators to the same rules. They also established some instruments of risk management and of possible food crisis. Respecting the fundaments of food safety this new legislation will give some attention to the traditional products, allowing some flexibility for the application of the food hygiene rules. This flexibility must be exerted in a complete transparency owing the free trade of the products.

Prevention of human diseases by an integrated quality control system

The efficiency, cost-effectiveness and scientific validity of current ante- and post-mortem meat inspection procedures are doubtful. A new approach is proposed and discussed. Meat and poultry inspection systems need to better address the risks posed by food-borne micro-organisms, particularly pathogens causing inapparent infections in food animals. Microbial agents (particularly bacteria) represent the greatest risk to public health. Intervention should not unduly focus at the abattoir or food processing stage, but also target the risks associated with production stages before the abattoir. It is proposed that producers have to guarantee, e.g. through HACCP-like systems, that their products meet the requirements. When verification of the HACCP-procedures by the competent authority reveals that the HACCP-system is not adequate, the operator or farmer should adapt the procedures. Some examples are described. The establishment of a new European Food Authority (EFA) is expected to contribute to a higher level of consumer health protection, and will help to restore and maintain consumers’ confidence.

Politics versus Science in the Making of a New Regulatory Regime for Food in Europe

The European Union's new food regulatory regime can be understood as a political, rather than science-based solution to the problem of recurrent food crises that have threatened the foundations of the single market. The failure of first, mutual trust and subsequently, its remedy, comitology, led to calls for an agency solution. The question of whether to invest an agency with the three powers of risk assessment, communication, and management can be understood as a struggle to define the role of the scientist in the management of regulatory policy. Scientists base their recommendations on probabilities; politicians are accountable to a public that expects government to guarantee zero risk. The outcome, a European Food Authority (EFA), preserves the management function and the Rapid Alert System within the Commission. EFA's success will rest on the harmonization of food law in Member States and the creation of a network between the EFA and Member State food agencies. Satisfaction of these goals, in turn, depends upon transparency, open communication, and willingness to cooperate. An unintended consequence of the new regulatory regime for food may be to strengthen corporate food producers and accelerate food homogeneity within Europe. These processes carry their own set of problems regarding interest group behavior, unconventional political behavior, and voter mobilization. We close the paper with recommendations for future research.

‘European Policy on Food Safety’: Comments and suggestions on the White Paper on Food Safety

The paper provides a summary of the report written for the European Parliament's Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA) Programme, as a response to the Commission's 2000 Food Safety White Paper. The White Paper made a series of major proposals, including a plan to set up a new European Food Authority (EFA). This paper summarises the comments and proposals on the background and technical arguments in the White Paper. The key issues in food-related public health, which the EFA will have to address, are reviewed. The role of science and technological information in policy-making on food and health matters is explored, as is the core challenge of how to link nutrition and food safety to give a consumer-friendly public health policy for Europe.

European Food Authority – UK comments

European Food Authority – UK comments