NVWA supervision changes

The trends and developments that have a great effect on today's society are, according to the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA): corona; digitalization; sustainability; climate change; globalization and Brexit. These trends are also turning the food industry upside down considerably. In this brief summary, we focus on a few points that are important for the food industry. 

Some trends and developments

Climate change affects the quality of (raw) materials for food products. Because of extreme drought or extreme rainfall, poison-producing fungi occur more frequently. As seawater warms, the risk of 'marine biotoxins' (toxins formed by algae in shellfish) increases. Higher temperatures require different storage conditions for food during transport. Raw materials are also being imported from many new areas, with as yet unknown risks.

Due to COVID-19 the way of supervision has changed. Some checks had to be done remotely, i.e. digitally. The content also changed: for example, since corona there are many more online providers of products on which the NVWA carries out inspections. The organization is now investigating which consequences of corona have lasting impact on their method of supervision.

Digitalization means that consumers nowadays more often find themselves in an "information bubble": the online content they see is tailored to social media behavior, with increasing influence from bloggers and vloggers. As a result, factual information - including on food safety - is reaching them less and less effectively. 

International trade flows are increasing, and with them the risk of new animal and plant diseases being introduced into the Netherlands. The opportunities for fraud are also increasing. Control of international (internet) trade is often limited or even impossible.  

In the coming years the NVWA will focus on the following areas:

• gaining insight into how (risky) micro-organisms and chemical "contaminants" (such as dioxins) move through the food chain, for example via animal feed into our food;
• more attention to food safety in the import of food and feed;
• faster detection of emerging risks by working more closely with companies, ministries and research institutes, such as monitoring emerging marine biotoxins
• research into potentially risky substances in food and feed, such as cleaning agent residues, chemicals generated by heating food, and chemicals from packaging;
• more research into the presence of prohibited and improperly administered veterinary drugs and hormones.

The Multi-Year Agenda of the NVWA contains the full strategic direction of the supervision. What they are going to do exactly is set out in the annual plans.

nvwa.nl