RASFF - os principais perigos alimentares, identificados nos Estados-Membros e Portugal entre o ano de 2018 a 2020

Abstract

This report is part of the curricular internship of the Master in Biotechnology and Innovation Specialty in Food Safety at the Escola Superior de Biotechnology e Innovation do Porto. This internship lasted five months, in the host entity, ASAE – Authority of Esurance Alimentary e Economic, in Operational Unit I of the Northern Regional Unit (UOI) in Porto and in the places where inspection/surveillance actions were carried out. This professional internship aimed to primarily understand the dynamics of the host institution, identify, recognize, and understand the structure, mission and attributions of ASAE, as well as punctually accompany the Brigades constituted by the respective Inspectors in external service, within the scope of inspection actions, and investigation of economic operators, mainly in the food sector and, in a minority, in the economic area. Throughout the professional internship report, the internship host will be described, in detail, the procedures and monitoring of inspection and inspection actions to the respective economic operators and thus, verifying if they are in accordance with the applicable legislation, as well as, monitoring, namely with regard to Notifications of the RASFF system (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed). RASFF is a system where Member States, EEA-EFTA countries and the Commission share information of food and feed that may pose health risks to consumers. Thus, the present work focuses on the alerts sent by the RASFF in the period from 2018 to 2020, referring to principal biological, chemical and physical hazards in foodstuffs and foods between the different Member States. In conclusion, it is essential that there are collaborating and competent national and international authorities that guarantee food safety as well as public health. Indeed, from the research of the information derived from the RASFF annual reports and, after analyzing all the hazards notified and described in table 4, it was decided to analyze only those that represent 90% of the notifications, and biological hazards are notoriously the which have the highest number of notifications.

Date of Award	12 Dec 2022
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Jacinta da Silva Ladeira (Supervisor) & Paula Teixeira (Supervisor)