食品伙伴网导读：近日，来自布鲁塞尔的一份报告显示，2009年欧盟食品和饲料快速预警系统（RASFF）对污染事件的报告数量平均每天近22个，达到了历史最高水平。去年，RASFF共收到了约8000份通报信息，比上一年增加了约12%。
在每周的通报名单中，最常见的不合格项目是致病性微生物，过敏原，重金属和霉菌毒素。
但欧盟委员会在报告中说，增加并不意味着该地区的食品的安全程度降低。相反，数字创下了新高，因为即使是不太严重的问题，会员国也采取了了更多的后续行动。它补充说，去年人们第一次远离了一些重大的食品安全方面的恐慌 。
卫生和消费者政策John Dalli专员强调，调查结果显示会员国之间对食品安全信息的共享日益开放，但他告诫说，没有人可以对这个问题放松警惕。
该报告突出了若干问题和趋势：
•所有食品类别中对黄曲霉毒素的通报显着减少；
•对转基因食品的通报大量增加，有大量未经授权的有关亚麻籽FP967数目。首次在2009年从加拿大进口到欧盟的船运货物中大量发现。
•在孟加拉国和印度虾检出禁用的硝基呋喃方面的报告很多。硝基呋喃是用于虾的一种抗生素，但由于其致癌性在欧盟禁止使用。
•食物补充剂中未经授权的物质方面的通报增加。
•会员国有关食品中过敏原的通报增加。
原文报道：The number of contamination incidents reported through the European Union’s food safety alert system reached record levels last year, with an average of almost 22 logged each day during 2009, said a report from Brussels.
The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) received a total of nearly 8,000 notifications in 2009 – a year-on-year jump of almost 12 per cent on 2008, said the EC. The amount of alert notifications on serious risks also increased slightly compared to the previous year to 557.
Pathogenic micro-organisms, allergens, heavy metals and mycotoxins were among the risks most commonly reported to the weekly list issued by the Europe Commission (EC).
But the EC said the increase in reports did not mean the region’s food system was less safe. Instead, numbers hit a record high because member states had sent more follow-up notifications, even for less serious problems, said the body. It added that last year was the first in some time that had been free from any major safety scares.
Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, John Dalli stressed the findings showed there was an increasing openness among member states to share information on food safety but he cautioned that nobody could relax over the issue.
"We cannot rest on our laurels when it comes to food safety, even if 2009 is the first year [for a long time] without any significant incidents being reported in the RASFF,” he said.
Report findings
The report highlighted a number of issues and trends:
A significant decrease in notifications on aflatoxins in all food categories
A substantial increase in notifications on genetically modified food – with a large number relating to unauthorised linseed FP967. This was first detected in Europe in 2009, in a substantial number of shiploads imported into the EU from Canada.
More findings were reported on forbidden nitrofurans in shrimps from Bangladesh and India. Nitrofurans are antibiotics used for treatment of shrimps but are forbidden in the EU because of their carcinogenicity
A rise in notifications for unauthorised substances in food supplements
Increased reporting by member states of risks related to allergens in food
Notification types
The report said that two thirds of the notifications related to products originating from within the EU and that almost all these problems were identified by controls carried out on the market.
Some 3,322 original notifications were made through the RASFF system last year - of which 1,796 market notifications, 1,484 border rejections and 42 news notifications. These original notifications gave rise to 4,767 follow-up notifications, representing on average about 1.4 follow-ups per original notification. The figures represent a 5.8 per cent increase in original notifications and a 17.7 per cent increase in follow-up notifications; resulting in an overall jump of 13.4 per cent.
Commissioner Dalli said: “The high number of RASFF notifications shows that Member States are very willing to cooperate beyond their national borders to safeguard our high level of food safety in the EU."
RASFF now has 34 members after Switzerland joined as a partial associate for products of animal origin. More than 60 countries that are not members were connected to the system last year. The EC said this “was only the beginning” and that three seminars on RASFF had already been held in Vietnam and Macao, for Asian countries and in South Africa for the African continent. A mission in Indonesia was the first of a series of sustained training missions, where EU experts are sent on the spot to help authorities to set up their alert system.
