This Brief aims at providing a general understanding of the rationale - scientific as well as
political - behind EU policy and related risk management decisions in the area on non-animal
food imports. Lately various menaces associated with imported food and feed of non-animal
origin appeared in the media: imported sprout seeds contaminated with E. coli strawberries
containing hepatitis A or noro viruses to name but a few are now as much discussed as the
different well-known meat scandals. The authors explain the reinforced official controls at EU
borders on certain imports of non-animal origin and the wide range of EU measures that
currently foresee trade restrictions for imports presenting chemical and non-chemical 'high
risks' from a public health perspective (so-called 'emergency measures'). The Brief closely
examines chemical (and also non-chemical) risks associated with imports of non-animal origin
and their impact on human health. The authors also consider the role risk analysis is playing
to underpin risk-management decisions at EU level including the scientific output by the
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
