Centre for Research and Documentation in Food Safety

Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca e documentazione sulla Sicurezza Alimentare

Centre for Research and Documentation in Food Safety

Via Cara de Canonica, 6 - 10041 CARIGNANO (TORINO), ITALY

Tel 0119690294 - Fax 0119690725 - info@ceirsa.org

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FOOD ALERTS

The periodical food scares that interested EU member states, have shown that the identification of the origin of food is of primary importance for enforcing consumers health. Traceability (REGULATION (EC) No 178/2002), through the certification of the different stages of production, makes the recall of inappropriate foods easier and permits the authorities to give specific information on this foods. At European level the system is based on the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), which publishes that produces a weekly table with the alerts involving all member states.

In Italy the system involves different institutions. The Local Health Units are the first and last stage of the process: their first duty is to perform risk assessment and then communicate the alerts to the Region and to the Ministry of Health, at the end they also receive the alerts and then verify the recall from the market of the products. The Local Health Units also have the role of informing consumers about the risks for public health.

This section of the website is our way of letting the consumers know about problems associated with food and, in some cases, provide details of specific action to be taken. The food alerts that interest our territory (Local Health Unit nr.8 of Piedmont) are posted in a table periodically updated (in Italian). For some of this alerts, when more information is needed, we have created a page where we qualify the risk (physical, microbiological or chemical) and we quantify it. For this alerts we also post a description (in Italian) of what type of problems should be expected and what should be done to ensure safety. The description is also available in PDF for users to print at their convenience or to post in community health centres.

The informative reports have this structure:

Qualification of Risk


Chemical	Physical (es. foreign bodies)	Biological

Quantification (Level) of Risk

No Risk

Low Risk

Medium Risk

High Risk

There is no health risk in consuming this product; the problem is of not compliance with the regulations (food additives, labelling…).

The contaminant is not of proven danger and it is present in very low quantity. There is a potential risk only if the exposure is long and continuous. No risk if the product is been consumed once.

Do not eat! The product will not cause immediate damage if consumed, but it is of proven danger for health (ex micotoxins).

Do not eat, absolutely. This product represents a clear danger. If you consumed it and are feeling ill contact a doctor.

Description

Where we describe the type of the risk, what health problems it may create and how to avoid them. We also give instructions about what to with the mentioned products.