Organic produce imports are in the focus of the Surveillance Program of the European Commission. From Jan 1 to Dec 31 of this year, cereals, oil-plant products and Goji berries originating from China will undergo special inspections when arriving at any European port.
US FDA is chasing parts of the dietary supplement industry for false claims and illegal pharmaceutical substances. The dietary supplements industry is projected to grow to approx $230bn USD - a lucrative market. Now US FDA sent warning letters to 12 companies for false or unsubstantiated health claims and for the presence of illegal pharmaceutical substances in weight loss supplements and those promising to boost men's sexual performance.
According to a request to the Germany parliament, every second chicken is contaminated with the pathogenic campylobacter bacterium. Levels of campylobacter in slaughterhouses almost doubled from 2011. Can the amended regulation help to reduce occurrence?
Bert Popping becomes the new President of the MoniQA Association.
States of the corn belt in the U.S.A., as well as regions in Canada, have reported seeing high levels of mycotoxins. Authorities and organizations urged farmers to monitor mycotoxin levels in feedstuff. Will we be seeing high levels of mycotoxin in dairy products this winter? Aflatoxins and fumonisins are the ones typically found.
The Food Safety Analysis 2018 conference in Singapore provided an update with numerous world-renown speakers from QUB, FERA, FOCOS, Eurofins, Intertek, GfL, Danone, Nestlé, Mars as well as excellent vendor talks from Agilent, Sciex, Phenomenex, Waters, Gerste, Restek, Merck, Shimadzu. Bruker, Axel Semrau, AnalytikJena.
RFID chips can be turned into food fraud detectors. Researchers from MIT showed that 25% methanol in adulterated alcohol can be detected.
The FoodIntregrity project was funded with approx nine million Euros by the European Commission and is coming to an end. During the final conference in Nantes, the outcomes were reported. The project with all its 62 partners has come a long way, but there is still a lot more to do. Will there be a continuation of FoodIntegrity?
The US FDA considers adding sesame to the list of regulated food allergens. The presumed prevalence of sesame allergy is 0.1%, about 10-fold lower than peanut or tree nut allergies. Why would it still make sense to add sesame to the list?
