March 19, 2007

Europe opens new laboratories for food and feed safety
 

The European Commission has built three laboratories to support national authorities in their efforts to keep food and feed free from dangerous substances.

The three Community Reference Laboratories for heavy metals, mycotoxins and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) has been opened on March 16 led by European Commissioner for Health Markos Kyprianou at the Commission's Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements in Geel, Belgium.

Heavy metals, mycotoxins and PAHs are all substances with potentially harmful health effects that can be found in food. These laboratories will validate testing methods, develop reference materials and measurements and provide training and other tools to national laboratories so that food and animal feed can be kept safe across the EU.

Kyprianou said the laboratories will be essential to create a more efficient regulatory framework and to boost public confidence in the safety of food and feed products.

Three Community Reference Laboratories (CRLs) will be opened at the Institute for Reference Materials and Measurements:

• Heavy metals: these substances are present in all foodstuffs. Some are important for our nutrition, but others, such as lead, cadmium and mercury, have no nutritional value and can indeed in some cases contribute to serious illnesses such as cancer, or damage the central nervous system.
   
• Mycotoxins: these are substances produced by fungi growing on food and animal feed. Estimates show that up to 20 percent of food products may contain mycotoxins, which can cause anything from mild to serious illness.
   
• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): these are compounds which can enter food during production processes. Some of the compounds can cause cancer or DNA mutation.