Agencia Española de Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición
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Chemical Risk Management
Chemical substances play a major role in the production and distribution of food. Improvements to harvests and livestock production from phytosanitary products and medicinal products for veterinary use, respectively should be highlighted. This helps to reduce production costs and consequently lower the retail price to the consumer of the food. Food additives, for which the deliberate addition to food products has a technological purpose, help to improve the appearance of the food as it is put onto the market. In addition, materials such as plastics, paper, cardboard, etc. are used to keep food in optimum hygienic conditions and to permit its distribution as well as improving its appearance.
Nevertheless, the use of these materials results in the presence of chemical substances in the food, representing a potential risk which must be efficiently analysed, in order to offer the consumers guarantees that the food is safe.
The presence of chemical substances in food may also be of unintentional origin, produced by environmental contamination (air, water or soil) or by regular culinary practices (barbecues, fried foods, etc.), the risks of which must be also analysed.
Applications helpdesk – support for scientific evaluation of regulated products and claims
A growing part of EFSA’s (European Food Safety Authority) work relates to the assessment of claims submitted in the European Union, to establish the harmlessness of substances, products, processes, etc. before they can be permitted for use in food and feed on the EU market.
It should be noted that EFSA does not grant market authorisation, but provides independent scientific advice and a solid scientific foundation to underpin the market authorisation decisions taken by Member States and the European Commission.
Work in this area is carried out by the EFSA’s independent Scientific Panels and by the scientific staff working at the EFSA’s scientific units. Within EFSA’s organisational structure, most of these units are grouped under the Scientific Evaluation of Regulated Products (REPRO) Directorate.
EFSA’s Applications Helpdesk forms part of this Directorate (REPRO), and acts as a front office and support desk for applicants, Member States and other stakeholders who have questions regarding the EFSA application procedures. The service is also responsible for centralising and processing the initial administrative steps of all applications (including reception, registration and verifying the basic scientific and administrative completeness of the information in the submitted application). It is therefore essential to allow staff in the remaining EFSA assessment units to concentrate on the purely scientific aspects of the applications leading towards the publication of the scientific risk assessment for the substance, process or claim.
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