Food safety standards vary by country and world region, and different aspects of food safety are regulated differently depending on the region. Harmonization and tightening of food safety standards around the world are important as emerging countries seek to improve quality of life by ensuring safer food for all people.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has issued an order regarding maximum residue limits (MRLs) for pesticides in spices and culinary herbs, in alignment with Codex Alimentarius guidelines and the MRLs adopted by the U.S., the EU, Japan, and Australia/New Zealand.
The European Commission has proposed amendments to EU regulations regarding allowable levels of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat (RTE) foods to apply to additional food business operators along the supply chain.
As the EU is considering a ban on bisphenol A (BPA) and its analogues in food packaging based on the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) recent lowering of its tolerable daily intake (TDI) for the chemical, an international group of academic experts has penned their support for EFSA’s nontraditional risk assessment behind the new BPA TDI, and call on other regulatory agencies around the globe to modernize their risk assessment approaches of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
The European Commission recently made changes to the maximum levels of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) in food with Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/1022, amending Regulation (EU) 2023/915.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) will be holding a hybrid stakeholder forum on June 20, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia. The agency is also seeking public comment on two Food Standards Code amendments.
The 54th session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) convened in Nairobi, Kenya on March 11–15, 2024 to discuss unresolved specifics of guidelines adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission during its 46th session in November 2023, as well as new work proposals.
The People’s Republic of China has released 47 new or updated standards in the Chinese National Food Safety Standards. USDA has provided an unofficial English translation of the announcement about the changes to the Standards.
Addressing concerns around brominated flame retardants in the environment and food, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is updating its decade-old risk assessments on different families of the chemicals. EFSA has launched a public consultation regarding the draft scientific opinion on the update of the risk assessment of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) and its derivatives in food.
Regulated food and feed products require authorization before they can be sold in the UK. The UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) has proposed reforms to its Regulated Products Service (RPS), for which the agency has launched a public consultation.