Jack Gommers
Food safety has become a major public health issue globally. When it comes to the economy, environment and public health are being compromised by the government. Such cases have come up in the Netherlands. In 2002, at a feed company, the contraceptive agent MPA and growth hormone 17-beta oestradiol ended up in the animal feed that was marketed among thousands of farmers. This caused a lot of damage in pig farming and the feed sector. Farmers went bankrupt. The feed and meat controls failed. This had consequences for the health of consumers. But, the government, instead of initiating a legal remedy, concealed the threat and covered up the incident for years! Why did the Dutch government conceal the scope of food fraud scandal, violate European legislation and did not investigate the health consequences? All stakeholders prefer to take a big step back when it comes to controlling and enforcement of food safety in Europe. It is precisely EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) that should present itself to this subject. The European Commission found deviating from European legislation that ensures food safety, particularly the Council Directive 96/22/EC (concerning the prohibition on the use in livestock farming of certain substances having a hormonal or thyrostatic action and of ß-agonists) and 96/23/EC (on measures to monitor substances and residues in live animals and animal products). The issue poses a severe risk to public health. The Member State of the Netherlands has its own tolerance policy, in particular, the banned chemical (poison) policy on food safety that goes against the EU legislation. In 2017, the Council of State allowed the use of chemical residues in food that goes to the food chain. The Dutch Minister for Agriculture and Public Health also confirms this policy in 2017 with known risks of cancer, diabetes, heart and vascular depression, obesity and birth defects. EFSA also has a tolerance policy that is allowed to deviate from European Food Safety legislation and which are mentioned in EU legislation and yet go into the food chain. It will also be ratified in 2017 by the Dutch Minister of Agriculture Carola Schouten and Minister Bruins of Public Health.