BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Consumers should not have any fears about the quality of food sold across the European Union despite a record number of food safety warnings posted last year, the EU's health chief said on Wednesday.
Thanks to the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), many food safety risks had been averted before they could harm consumers, EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou told a news conference.
"Does the increase of notifications signify that our food is getting less safe? No, it doesn't. It may well mean the contrary," she said.
According to the annual RASFF report released by the European Commission, a total of 7,354 warnings of risks to human health from food and animal feed were sent to the EU executive in 2007, up from 6,840 in 2006.
"The majority, 65 percent of alert notifications, in 2007 related to products originating in the EU," the report said.
Among the risks that were most reported in 2007 were the presence of potentially pathogenic micro-organisms, mycotoxins, foreign bodies such as glass fragments in yoghurt and heavy metals like mercury in fish, it said.
A whole chapter of the report was devoted to China, which accounted for 12 percent of notifications. Brussels has called on Beijing to set up a similar alert system over rising concerns over food safety in the country.
Other findings published on Wednesday include:
- cases of aflatoxins in pistachio nuts from Iran have decreased, while the imports have remained at the same level
- notifications for consignments of nuts and dried fruits from Turkey containing too high levels of aflatoxins have increased
- an increased number of notifications was received
- report highlights an important case of contamination with dioxins of guar gum from India
- an increase in notifications for mercury in fish was observed in 2007.
