Co-operation project between the German and Icelandic governments, Safe foods, has now been launched. The main purpose of the project is to increase food safety and consumer protection in Iceland by increasing the monitoring of undesirable substances in food.
Safe foods enables the Icelandic authorities, the Food Administration and the municipal health inspectorate to better enforce legislation on food safety and consumer protection, which has already been implemented through the EEA Agreement. The project includes the purchase and installation of research equipment and training in accredited chemical analysis and monitoring work. With improved equipment, it will be possible to perform many more measurements domestically than is currently the case, such as measurements of algae toxins in shellfish and measurements of 300 pesticides in food instead of the 60 currently measured.
Safe foods was originally part of the IPA plan for Iceland's accession negotiations with the EU, but has now been implemented in the form of a bilateral project between the German and Icelandic governments. The project is carried out in collaboration with Matís, Matvælastofnun, the Ministry of Industry and Innovation, the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL), the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES) in Germany.
Further information can be found in the document Safe foods | Actions and yields and at Margrét Björk Sigurðardóttir at the Food Administration (MAST) and Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir at Matís.