Food and Health – A European Perspective

Food, health and consumer issues will continue to be a major challenge to all involved in European food production, processing and policy making into the next century. There is still controversy among experts concerning some of the key nutrition issues of today and an increased European interdisciplinary effort is needed to resolve uncertainties in these and other areas. The merits of promoting a European consensus on dietary recommendations should be explored by the CEC. Alternatively, existing recommendations of expert groups in a number of countries could define nutrition policy in most member states. Economic and other incentives to dietary change, as well as consumer education, must be encouraged by the EEC. Agrochemicals appear to pose few risks for consumers in the EEC while food additives, food processing and storage do not give rise to toxicological or nutritional problems for the majority of consumers. However, the area of natural toxicants requires increased attention