Food safety officials in Luxembourg have issued a warning after a company in the United States contacted residents about dietary supplements.
The Food Safety Unit of the National Health Directorate said it has learned of an incident in which an unnamed business based in the United States approached people in Luxembourg on social media to recruit them to sell their products in Europe. Initial contact was accompanied by scientific articles aiming to show effectiveness of the products.
These food supplements have “questionable” claims and are potentially non-compliant with European regulations, according to the authority.
The Food Safety Unit said anyone accepting such a proposal would take responsibility for ensuring compliance with the requirements of food law. It urged people to remain vigilant in the face of such offers.
Food safety: Role of businesses
European legislation defines a food business operator as the natural or legal person(s) responsible for ensuring that the requirements of food law are met within the business under their control.
A food business is defined as any public or private company carrying out, for profit or not, activities related to any stage of production, processing and distribution of food.
Other regulation states the food business responsible for food information is the operator under whose name or business name the food is marketed or, if that company is not in Europe, the importer into the EU market.
Luxembourg is also still working on creating a single administration in charge of official controls in the food chain.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development and Ministry for Consumer Protection’s plan will join up the Food Safety Unit of the Health Directorate, Veterinary Services Administration, some services under the authority of the Administration of Technical Agricultural Services, and the Government Commissariat for Quality, Fraud and Food Safety.
The draft law to create a new veterinary and food agency in Luxembourg was submitted in November 2020.
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