This document summarizes the conclusions and recommendations of the microbiological risk assessments of L. monocytogenes in specific foods; namely, diced ready-to-eat (RTE) cantaloupe, frozen vegetables and cold-smoked ready-to-eat (RTE) fish, in light of new data and approaches. This document has been prepared to facilitate the deliberations of the upcoming CCFH meeting. A full report of the meeting will be published as part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) Microbiological Risk Assessment (MRA) Series.  

The Ninety-sixth meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Executive Committee on Food Additives was held in Geneva from 27 June to 6 July 2023. The purpose of the meeting was to evaluate the safety of certain food additives and flavourings. The present meeting was the Ninety-sixth in a series of similar meetings. The tasks before the Committee were to (a) further elaborate principles governing the evaluation of food additives; (b) undertake safety evaluations of certain food additives; (c) review and prepare specifications for certain food additives; and (d) establish specifications for certain flavouring agents. 

This volume of FAO JECFA Monographs contains residue evaluation of certain veterinary drugs prepared at the 94th Meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), held virtually from 16 to 27 May 2022. The JECFA meeting was specifically convened to consider residues of veterinary drugs in food. The tasks before the Committee were to further elaborate principles for evaluating the safety of residues of veterinary drugs in food, establishing acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) and acute reference doses (ARfDs), and recommending maximum residue limits (MRLs) for such residues when the drugs under consideration are administered to food-producing animals in accordance with good veterinary practice (GVP) in the use of veterinary drugs. The present volume contains monographs on the evaluations of...

This is a regional report on what happened around World Food Safety Day (WFSD) in 2022 in Europe and Central Asia Region. 

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a serious global health threat and a food safety issue of primary concern. Governments and international organizations have recognized that the issue has to be approached in a multidisciplinary manner, addressing animal, plant, and human health as well as the environment under the One Health approach. This brochure presents the FAO project to facilitate the implementation of Codex texts on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) to support the containment and reduction of foodborne AMR. It also briefly describes what different target audiences (government authorities, producers and processors of food, animal, and plants/crops health professionals, consumers) can do in addressing this issue.

FAO and WHO convened a meeting to review and evaluate the evidence in support of precautionary allergen labelling to address unintended allergen presence in foods. The Expert Committee reviewed the data on the current status and uses of the precautionary allergen labelling (PAL) and unanimously agreed that current PAL systems used in many countries needed to be improved as they were neither uniform nor informative and were not consistently risk based on amount and frequency of UAP found in food products. The Expert Committee also found that current PAL approaches led to widespread PAL that diminished information and value for consumers. The Expert Committee reviewed again the principles and basis of RfD from the second meeting and reached a consensus that...

With a food safety focus, a scientific literature review was conducted to characterize the current understanding about the effects of microplastics on the gut microbiome and potential health implications. The main aspects analysed are (1) the effects of microplastics on the composition, diversity and function of gut microbiome using in vito and in vivo models; (2) health implications resulting from the microplastic–microbiome interactions and underlying mechanisms; (3) the establishment of causality; and (4) influence of the gut microbiome on microplastic biodegradation. The research was also scoped to identify current gaps, limitations and needs for the eventual consideration of microbiome-related data in chemical risk assessment. With this work, ESF contributes to the FAO global programme on the impact of food systems on...

With a food safety focus, a scientific literature review was conducted to characterize the current understanding about the effects of veterinary drug residues on the human gut microbiome and potential implications on human health and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The main aspects analysed are (1) effects of individual or combined drugs on the composition, diversity and function of gut microbiome using in vivo or in vitro models; (2) health implications resulting from the veterinary drug-microbiome interactions and underlying mechanisms; (3) establishment of causality; and (4) influence of the gut microbiome on the metabolism and bioavailability of veterinary drugs. The research was also scoped to identify current gaps, limitations and needs for the eventual consideration of microbiome-related data in chemical risk assessment. With...

With a food safety focus, a scientific literature review was conducted to characterize the current understanding about the effects of pesticide residues on the human gut microbiome and potential implications on human health and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The main aspects analysed are (1) effects of individual or combined pesticides on the composition, diversity and function of gut microbiome using in vivo or in vitro models; (2) health implications resulting from the pesticide-microbiome interactions and underlying mechanisms; (3) establishment of causality; and (4) influence of the gut microbiome on the metabolism and bioavailability of pesticides. The research was also scoped to identify current gaps, limitations and needs for the eventual consideration of microbiome-related data in chemical risk assessment.

Cell-based food production, which is the field of growing animal agricultural products directly from cell cultures, has been explored as an alleged sustainable alternative to the conventional livestock agricultural system. As commercial cell-based food production continues to expand, the urgency increases to address one of the most important questions of consumers, the question of food safety. Thus, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), has developed the present document to engage with respective Members and relevant stakeholders by proactively sharing the current knowledge to identify concrete ways to inform consumers and all other stakeholders about the food safety considerations for cell-based food products.