Environmental implications of EC food safety drive

An ambitious legislative programme to improve food safety announced by the European Commission in January may have important implications for food contamination via the environment. Measures in the pipeline include legal limits on substances such as dioxins, PCBs and some metals in food and feed, and new controls on pesticides. Legislation on control and labelling of genetically modified (GM) organisms is also to be extended. The impact will be magnified by a new thrust to ensure traceability of all food and feed.