WFSD2022 on youtube

on behalf of the board and organisers a big thank you to all presenters and participants for joining us on the webinar

www.ewfc.org

“EU Food Safety and Sustainability under the “The Green Deal”

20^th May 2021

 Opening and Welcome: Mr. Sean Butler - EWFC President

presenters:

1. Mrs. Rada Chehlarova - Team Leader at European Commission, DG Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) Team Leader ‘Farm to Fork Strategy’.

2. Mr. Liam MacHale - President IFA (Irish Farmers Association) and First Vice President of the representative group of European farmers COPA

3. Mr. Pat Dillon -Head of Teagasc Moorepark Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Programme

 Closing Remarks and word of Thanks:

Stéphane TOUZET, Secretary General of EWFC

Sean Butler, President EWFC

On June 16th, the Commission published a Notice providing guidance on food safety management systems for food retail activities, including food donation. This initiative aims to support small businesses such as butchers, bakeries, groceries and ice-cream shops in their implementation of EU rules to ensure the safe production of food sold to the consumer.

The guidance proposes a simple way of implementing these EU requirements. It underlines the value of good hygiene practices that could be sufficient in small retail shops, saving operators from the (quite complicated) procedures based on the hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) principles. Food safety remains ensured by the guidance, which is largely based on two scientific opinions of the European Food Safety Authority.

Building on the EU food donation guidelines, adopted in 2017, the guidance further facilitates food donation by making recommendations on some simple additional good hygiene practices that contribute to ensuring the safe redistribution of food. Food donation can present specific food safety challenges given that food which is redistributed may be approaching the end of its shelf-life and the extension of the food supply chain to additional actors (e.g. food banks and other charities). In context of the increased demand for food donation linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, this new guidance provides timely support for all actors involved. More generally, the Notice perfectly fits with the recently adopted Commission Farm to Fork Strategy, because of the favourable effect it can have on reducing waste and promoting food security by facilitating safe food donation practices.

Further information:

Commission Notice providing guidance on food safety management systems for food retail activities, including food donations 2020/C 199/01

EFSA - Hazard analysis approaches for certain small retail establishments in view of the application of their food safety management systems

EFSA - Hazard analysis approaches for certain small retail establishments and food donations: second scientific opinion

Six consumer groups from the BEUC network tested 250 electrical goods, toys, cosmetics and other products bought from online marketplaces such as Amazon, AliExpress, eBay and Wish. They selected the products based on possible risks and found that 66% of them fail EU safety laws with possible consequences such as electric shock, fire or suffocation.
The products failed safety tests because of a diverse range of issues. These include smoke and carbon monoxide alarms that do not detect smoke or carbon monoxide, toys that contain chemical levels 200 times over the limit and a power bank that melts during testing. In some scenarios this could put consumers in a life-or-death situation.

Although online marketplaces often seem to take down products when informed, they too often reappear1. One of the major problems is that marketplaces do not consider themselves to be liable for the safety of products sold on their platforms and therefore do not seem to sufficiently control the trustworthiness of sellers upfront.
The tests were conducted through the International Consumer Research and Testing (ICRT) network, on behalf of a consortium led by Test Achats/Test Aankoop (Belgium) and which includes Altroconsumo (Italy), Consumentenbond (Netherlands), Forbrugerrådet Tænk (Denmark), Stiftung Warentest (Germany) and Which? (United Kingdom). DECO (Portugal) and OCU (Spain) are also publishing the results.

Products were first submitted to a visual inspection. For some this was enough to declare them unsafe. Take, for example, toys with loose components or hoodies for children with cords that are too long. Most products, such as a plastic doll with a sharp scent, warranted more research. This led products as diverse as jewellery, smoke alarms and Christmas tree lights to be tested in a lab.
more: https://bit.ly/3cavk9N

USDA Prioritizes Privatizing Beef Slaughter Inspection Over Food Safety Even In The Face of Pandemic

more at  https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/usda-prioritizes-privatizing-beef-slaughter-inspection-over-food-safety-during-pandemic

earlier:

Consumer groups in California USA file action against US Department of Agriculture for issuing New Swine Inspection System (NSIS) rules that may undermine pork-safety inspection in slaughterhouses.

Food & Water Watch (FWW), Center for Food Safety (CFS), and two supporting members filed an action against the U.S. Department of Agriculture as they strongly oppose the New Swine Inspection System that handover foodsafety control tasks to the companies that run the slaughterhouses.

The new rules also lifted prior limits on slaughter-line speeds that were in place for proper inspections of the carcasses to prevent foodborne illnesses, hospitalizations, and deaths.

more at https://bit.ly/37Ht2MA