Food safety under the spotlight
The European commissioner for health and food safety Vytenis Andriukaitis has visited Romania against the background of Europes trying to solve the problem of double standards in food quality.
Mihai Pelin, 20.10.2017, 14:21
Around 70% of Romanians illnesses are caused by food and eating, while food additives are considered the third biggest cause of death worldwide after drug and medicine consumption and traffic accidents. The use of additives is not justified if their dosage poses a threat to consumer health, diminishes the nourishing quality of food products and hides certain major defects. Most food products contain additives, many of which have been proven to be hazardous for humans.
This is why some countries in southeastern Europe have notified the European Commission with respect to the double standards in food quality. They accuse some western companies of marketing inferior quality products under the same label as in the west. On a visit to Bucharest, the European Commissioner for health and food safety said it was unacceptable to have double standards in the quality of food products depending on the country where these products are marketed. He promised a common methodology to allow member countries to carry out the necessary tests, as well as an appropriate legal framework.
He emphasised that these food products of lower quality have a long-time negative effect on consumer health, leading to bigger costs, given that they have a higher content of sugar, which, if consumed for a long time, creates significant problems, cancer or chronic diseases. A working group has been set up in Romania with representatives from the agriculture ministry, the Sanitary and Veterinary Authority and the Consumer Protection Agency to identify cases of double standards in the quality of food products imported from Western Europe.
The results of a comparative study conducted this summer on food products suspected of being of lower quality showed differences in 9 out of 29 samples, but the Romanian officials said the respective products are not a threat to peoples health. The subject has also been discussed in Bratislava last week at a summit where Romania was also present, in an attempt to combat the marketing of lower quality products in the European Unions younger members. The participants in the summit established a method of collaboration to identify the products that may show different quality parameters depending on where they are marketed. Romanian experts will thus work with the Euro MPs to regulate this field.
