The identification of emerging risks is an ongoing process. The external communication of emerging risks is a complex task, with the methods, timing and target audience being determined on a case-by-case basis. Depending on the nature of the issue, the target group may be the authority (in particular the National Food Chain Safety Office – NÉBIH), senior managers, the professional community, food businesses or the wider community, consumers interested in the issue, etc. Not only emerging risks requiring action may be communicated, but some issues may also help to promote research or be important due to their educational character, and therefore may be communicated through communication channels such as the DFI's website.
The world is facing a significant food security crisis, with 2 billion people suffering from moderate or severe food insecurity. To address this issue, novel foods such as seaweeds are being explored as a potential solution to increase food yields and prevent global food shortages.
According to research by the American consumer magazine Consumer Reports, dark chocolates may contain dangerous amounts of heavy metals.
According to a research, contaminated spices were determined to be the second largest cause of lead poisoning in children in 2021 in Nebraska’s most populous county.
37 people became sick across Australia after consuming home-brewed poppy seed tea. Many of them have been presented to hospital emergency departments. There have been cases requiring intensive care and a cardiac arrest involved.
Most meat from cattle living on Dutch river flood plains is too high in dioxins, making it unfit for consumption, Dutch food safety watchdog NVWA has found.
Phthalates are commonly used in plastic packaging as plasticizers and have been associated with several human health outcomes such as lower semen quality, neurodevelopmental effects, childhood asthma, Type 2 diabetes, as well as breast and uterine cancer. New studies evaluated phthalate leaching from food packaging, and their mixture risks.
Marine algae are widely used in food and feed. A number of risks have been identified in relation of their consumption, including pheophorbides.
A team of Russian, German and French researchers have extracted and studied viruses from Siberian permafrost. Based on the study, scientists have re-animated 13 new pathogens, which they have dubbed "zombie viruses".
Some non-thermal processing methods can reduce the allergenicity of seafood. Electron beam irradiation (EBI) could be a new way of preserving seafood.
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled to annul the European Commission’s 2019 classification of titanium dioxide, which is also known as E171 and is used to add white color to foods, as a carcinogen. According to the court’s ruling, the assessment of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) in 2017 – which the EC classification was based on, contained a manifest error.
In October 2022, the European Commission published Regulation regarding maximum levels for dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in certain foodstuffs.
A research published in 2022 aimed to develop an approach for the enhancement of the quality aspects and longevity of bread, with the immobilization on an Aspergillus niger-purified enzyme on zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) and immersing in a buffered solution to create a mixture of GOx/ZnONPs.
Research in South Australia has found that infants and young children do not consume enough iron, a nutrient playing an important role in childhood development concerning the brain and neurological development and also in the functioning of red blood cells.
Balantioides coli is a zoonotic enteric parasite of worldwide distribution that can cause mild to life-threatening diseases in humans and animals. An article published in 2022 presented the results of a study on the occurrence of Balantioides coli in wild cervids in Portugal, Europe.
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been a growing problem due to the overuse of antibiotics in human health and agriculture and inadequate infection prevention and control.
Antibacterial, biodegradable packaging has been developed by researchers in Singapore that could replace plastic packaging materials.
A study has investigated whether the consumption of products made from Italian heavy pigs could pose a health risk to consumers in terms of contamination with certain toxic metals and metalloids.
The number of hens kept in urban backyards is rising. The growing popularity of the trend has been spurred on by local food movements, inspiring people to produce their own food.
One of the greatest challenges of our time, antimicrobial resistance, threatens not only human but also animal health.
Pathogenic bacteria in humans are developing resistance to antibiotics much faster than expected. A new computational research shows that one reason could be significant genetic transfer between bacteria in our ecosystems and to humans.
Hungarian 