EFSA assesses health risks from non-animal foods

THE EUROPEAN Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published in January its first scientific assessment on public health risks posed by pathogens that may contaminate food of non-animal origin. It compares the proportion of human cases reported in outbreaks of food-borne disease, from 2007 to 2011 in Europe. EFSA experts identified and ranked combinations of foods and pathogens most often linked to foodborne illness from foods of non-animal origin.

EFSA’s scientific opinion recommends the adoption of harmonised terminology when categorising foods for data collection purposes, and the collection of new information on how individual foods are prepared, processed and stored.