Food and Nutrition

This article has been updated in May 2008 following the vote in the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) Committee of the food additives proposal.
In May 2008, the ENVI Committee in the European Parliament, voted in the second reading of the food additives proposal a requirement for an azo dye warning label following the publication of the Southampton Study. The Southampton Study linked six artificial food colours and the preservative sodium benzoate to hyperactivity in (...)

As part of the political debate around chlorine-washed poultry, 21 of 27 European Union Agricultural Ministers on May 19 announced opposition to the European Commission proposal currently being drafted. The proposal is to lift a European Union ban on treating poultry with antimicrobial agents. This restriction has kept nearly all US poultry out of the EU since 1997.
Given the strong opposition of agricultural ministers at this stage, it is increasingly unlikely that the proposal will be (...)

The following outlines EFSA’s main priorities for 2008.
In the EFSA Work Plan 2008, the Agency underlined priorities such as:
to streamline the EFSA procedures
to adapt the EFSA working practices to meet the target outputs of scientific opinions and statements to the highest quality standards
to increase its presence and visibility in the EU Member States and consolidate the network of national bodies.
New challenges for EFSA in 2008 will include:
nanoparticles in food
animal cloning (...)

The European Commission launched on 30 May 2007 a White paper on Nutrition, Overweight and Obesity related health issues.
Updated with the reactions from stakeholders.
In this document the European Commission has shown its awareness about the alarming situation of overweight and obesity in Europe and its consequences on health. However the measures proposed are not in line with the seriousness of the situation.
The European Commission states that some of the measures should be the revision (...)

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) seeks views on the scientific and technical guidance for the preparation and presentation of the application for authorisation of a health claim.
The regulation 1924/2006 on food and health claims gives a critical role to EFSA as its role will be to assess whether any claims about the health benefits or nutritional value of foods are scientifically reliable and justified.
The European Commission has asked the agency to issue an opinion on (...)

Tackling overweight and obesity requires actions at several levels, including at local level. The National Heart Forum (NHF), an EPHA member, and the Faculty of Public Health published a new toolkit with useful statistics, practical initiatives, evidence of effectiveness, checklists, frameworks and examples of good practice.
"Lightening the load: Tackling overweight and obesity" has been designed to provide a starting point for developing a local strategy to combat overweight and obesity (...)

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has published a report calling for legislation to be put in place if recommendations to reduce the salt content in processed food continue to be ignored by the food industry.
The WHO recommendations - Reducing salt intake in populations 2007 - call for both governments and industry to commit to reducing the average salt consumption of the adult population to the maximum of 5g salt/day.
If the food industry fails to comply with the recommendations (...)

More and more countries in Europe are adopting legislation on the availability or advertising of unhealthy food. This article will be updated regularly on the progress of European countries on the matter. If you believe there have been new developments, do not hesitate communicating it to Silvia Marcos Simon.
France
In 2005, vending maching selling soft drinks and chocolate bars were banned from schools in France.
Since the beginning of March 2007, advertisements for unhealthy food and (...)

Healthy Food for All is a new initiative to promote access, availability and affordabilty of healthy food for low-income groups. The aim of the initiative is to address diet-related ill-health and to end food poverty in the island of Ireland. It aims to address a healthier nutrition as well as challenge health inequalities.
The Healthy Food for All Initiative has recently received an award at the World Health Organisation Istanbul conference on obesity as an example of best practices to (...)

On December 20 2006, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a Resolution designating World Diabetes Day as a United Nations Day to be observed every year starting in 2007.
Disadvantaged Communities and Vulnerable Groups
On 14 November 2006, World Diabetes Day focused on diabetes in disadvantaged communities and vulnerable groups.
The event was established by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), an EPHA member, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1991 with the aim (...)