Suchergebnisse

The European Commission requested EFSA to evaluate whether a series of dyes are covered by the 'Guidance on methodological principles and scientific methods to be taken into account when establishing Reference Points for Action (RPAs) for non‐allowed pharmacologically active substances present in food of animal origin' and to which group they should be attributed according to this guidance. Although these substances are not registered for use in food‐producing animals in the European Union, they may be used illegally in aquaculture for their antimicrobial properties. It was concluded that acriflavine, 3‐aminoacridine, aminoacridine, basic blue 7, brilliant green, leucobrilliant green, C.I. basic blue 26, chloranil, crystal violet, leucocrystal violet, dichlone, ethyl violet, methylene blue, new methylene blue, Nile blue, pararosaniline base, proflavine, proflavine hydrochloride, rhodamine 6G and trypan red are covered by the guidance document and belong to group I. A toxicological screening value of 0.0025 μg/kg body weight per day is applicable. Azure blue and potassium permanganate were excluded from the evaluation due to their inorganic nature.

Feeding infants with maize can expose them to fumonisin mycotoxins. We assessed fumonisin exposure from complementary foods in rural Tanzania and determined strategies to reduce the exposure. We conducted a cross‐sectional study in four villages of Tarakea division, Northern Tanzania. We used a repeat 24‐hour dietary recall to collect data of maize consumption as complementary food for 254 infants aged 6–8 months. Fumonisin concentrations in the maize were also estimated. Fumonisin exposure was assessed using @risk analysis software. With the software, several maximum fumonisin contamination and maize consumption patterns were combined in order to determine effective strategies for minimizing fumonisin exposure. Of the infants, 89% consumed maize at amounts up to 158 g/person/day (mean; 43 g/person/day ± 28). The maize was contaminated with fumonisins at levels up to 3201 µg kg(−1). Risk of fumonisin intake above the provisional maximum tolerable daily limit of 2 µg kg(−1) body weight was 15% (95% confidence interval; 10–19). The risk was minimized when the maximum contamination was set at 150 µg kg(−1). The risk was also minimized when the maximum consumption was set at 20 g/child/day while keeping the maximum contamination at the European Union (EU) maximum tolerated limit (MTL) of 1000 µg kg(−1). Considering the economical and technological limitations of adopting good agricultural practices in rural Tanzania, it is practically difficult to reduce contamination in maize to 150 µg kg(−1). We suggest adoption of the EU MTL of 1000 µg kg(−1) for fumonisins in maize and reduction, by replacement with another cereal, of the maize component in complementary foods to a maximum intake of 20 g/child/day.

Under current European hygiene legislation, food businesses are obliged to develop and implement food safety management systems (FSMS) including prerequisite programme (PRP) activities and hazard analysis and critical control point principles. This requirement is especially challenging for small food retail establishments, where a lack of expertise and other resources may limit the development and implementation of effective FSMS. In this opinion, a simplified approach to food safety management is developed and presented based on a fundamental understanding of processing stages (flow diagram) and the activities contributing to increased occurrence of the hazards (biological, chemical (including allergens) or physical) that may occur. The need to understand and apply hazard or risk ranking within the hazard analysis is removed and control is achieved using PRP activities as recently described in the European Commission Notice 2016/C278, but with the addition of a PRP activity covering 'product information and customer awareness'. Where required, critical limits, monitoring and record keeping are also included. Examples of the simplified approach are presented for five types of retail establishments: butcher, grocery, bakery, fish and ice cream shop.