Chemistry and Food Safety in the EU

This Brief provides a general description of the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). It describes the RASFF approach on the legal level and with reference to notification procedures, including also new tools, which were launched in 2014: iRASFF and the RASFF Consumer Portal. In an introduction, the present status of the RASFF, which had originally been introduced in 1979, is briefly reviewed. It is described as the main basis of modern food policy in Europe, enabling member countries to take rapid corrective actions on the one hand, and to perform statistically reliable analyses of food-related hazards on the other hand. One chapter contains a statistical evaluation of RASFF notifications in general, and specifically with regard to chemical contaminants, including also allergens. In another chapter, reasons for rejections of food and feed at the European borders are analyzed in selected case studies. The Brief provides an easy description for the chemical dangersand contaminants it is referring to, outlining the names, properties, uses and importance in the food and feed industry, toxicological effects, and contamination sources. The last chapter offers an outlook on the future of the RASFF and possible expectations.

Pasqualina Laganà is a Biologist with a MSc from the University of Messina, Italy, and specialisations in General Pathology (1992) and Chemistry and Food Technologies (2000). Graduated in 'Risks and disorders in the Work' (1998) and in 'Parasitology of Territory' (2009), she has also obtained in 2013 a Master in 'Epidemiology and Biostatistics' (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy). Since 1996 she has been Adjunct Professor of General and Applied Hygiene, and Researcher at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Messina. Member of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (S.It.I.), and the Italian Study Group Hospital Hygiene and Italian Foods Group. Member of the Sicilian Commission for the application of Legionella Guidelines since 2011, she is also the Responsible of Analysis within the Regional Reference Laboratory for clinical and environmental Legionella Surveillance (branch of Messina, Sicily) since 2012, and the Head of the Laboratory from October 2016 onwards. She is a member of the Editorial Board of several Journals, including the Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Biochemical Technology (JCMBT), Zeszyty Naukowe (Gdynia Maritime University, Poland), Global Drugs and Therapeutics (GDT) and EC Microbiology (ECMI). She is also a Referee for various international scientific journals and the author of 80 publications indexed in Medline and other databases.
Giovanni Campanella is graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Messina (2011). He became a specialist in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine (2018). He is Member of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (S.It.I.). During post-graduate School in Hygiene and Preventive Medicine he attended the Food Hygiene Laboratory and the Regional Laboratory for Environmental and Clinical Surveillance of the Legionella at the 'AOU G Martino' hospital in Messina. Currently he works at the Primary Care Department at the Health Protection Agency in Brescia.
Paolo Patanè is graduated in law, with top marks, from the University of Messina, Italy, and he has obtained an M.Sc. in Innovation and Development of Intellectual Property in Rome. After the successful Italian state examination to become a lawyer, Dr. Patanè has worked as consultant for legal and administrative aspects of the Sicilian Regional Authority, being in charge of Management EU funds in the Operating Regional Programme 'POR Sicilia 2000-2006'. He was also General Secretary of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Messina (2007-2013). After a short period at the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine (2013-2015), he is now the Head of the Office of the University of Messina, and responsible for protecting the Intellectual Property Rights of the inventions from the university staff. He has also been a Universitycontract professor (2013/2014 and 2014/2015) at the Messina University, and a lecturer in 2015 and 2016 at several workshops about Intellectual Property Rights. Dr. Patanè has also published several issues about law, alone: 'Authority', 'Ombudsman', 'Spoils System', 'Prisoners population in Italy', and in collaboration with other authors, such as: 'Chemistry and Hygine of food additives', 'Polyphenols and Functional Foods from the Regulatory Viewpoint'.
Maria Assunta Cava has a diploma in 'Technician of Biology-Chemistry Laboratory' granted in Cosenza (Italy) and a certificate of qualification as 'Health Assistant' (OSS) granted in Perugia (Italy). Among other activities related to the field of health, she has completed an internship at the Cosenza Hospital 'Annunziata' in Internal Medicine and Surgery departments. She has completed also an internship in the Centralized Clinical Laboratory of the 'Piem

The RASFF: Legal Bases, Aims and Procedures for Notifications.- RASFF Alert and Information Notifications: A Statistical Review.- EU Border Rejection Cases: Reasons and RASFF Notifications.- Conclusions and the Future of the RASFF.