Food should provide a sufficient amount of energy as well as a number of macronutrients (proteins, fats, carbohydrates) and micronutrients (vitamins, minerals and trace elements) to ensure that all of the body's nutritional needs are met. Find...
Small amounts of additives, flavourings and processing aids are put in foods during manufacturing or in the finished product for technological purposes (prolonging shelf life, enhancing taste, etc). Their assessment involves ensuring that they...
What are the nutritional benefits of eating shellfish? Is it risky to eat shellfish in periods of high green algae proliferation? What are ANSES's activities regarding shellfish health? See our articles on this topic.
Bisphenol A is a synthetic chemical. In France, ANSES has identified nearly sixty industries that potentially use this substance. The Agency’s assessment of the uses and health effects of bisphenol A led it to recommend, in September 2011,...
Caffeine is a substance naturally present in over 60 different plants, including coffee, kola nut, guarana and yerba maté. It is most commonly consumed in coffee and tea, but it is also found in energy drinks. ANSES recommends that consumers use...
Through its integrated approach to risk assessment, ANSES takes into account the exposures of various population groups in a cross-cutting and all-encompassing way which enables it to assess risks so as to reflect as closely as possible the...
Eating habits, both good and bad, are acquired early in life and have an influence on health. From nursery school through high school, two out of every three children on average - over 7 million French children - eat at the school cafeteria at...
Fish has valuable nutritional qualities that make it an excellent choice for meals for the whole family. However, fish may also be contaminated by environmental pollutants such as dioxins, PCBs and methylmercury, environmental contaminants that...
During its life cycle, food may come into contact with containers (pots, packaging, tanks), tools, utensils and surfaces used during the preparation and/or storage of foodstuffs. The constituent materials of these articles are highly...
Storing foods at cold temperatures slows the growth of microorganisms, thereby limiting food poisoning while preserving food's nutritional qualities and good taste. See all the Agency’s recommendations in this area.
Food supplements are “foodstuffs whose goal is to round off the normal diet and which constitute a concentrated source of nutrients or other substances having a nutritional or physiological effect”. Unlike medicinal products, they do not...
To conduct its risk assessments, it is essential that ANSES be able to base its expertise and recommendations on as much data as possible, including field data (data from vigilance and surveillance schemes). For this, ANSES has developed tools...