41
For example, goji berries, ashwaganda, serpentine root
diviner's sage, Ephedra herb and Yohimbe bark were in-
cluded. The BfR concluded that nine of the plants or plant
parts pose a risk to consumers and should not be used
in food. In five cases, use in food might pose risks; in the
remaining four cases, no risks have been observed under
normal conditions when used in food.
The 18 health assessments were published in a scientific
brochure (BfR-Wissenschaft) and aim to provide food con-
trol authorities a basis for their safety evaluation of foods.
A number of member states of the European Union also
compiled national lists and recommendations or regu-
lations on botanicals and botanical preparations. At a
joint conference in November 2014, the National Food
Institute of the Technical University of Denmark (DTU),
the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occu-
pational Health & Safety (ANSES) and the BfR called for
the harmonisation of approaches and systems in the dif-
ferent member states in order to pave the way for ex-
tensive cooperation between risk assessment and risk
management bodies. In an initial step, the European
Commission sent the BfR's evaluations on Yohimbe bark
and Ephedra herb to the EFSA. In 2014, on the basis of
the EFSA scientific opinions, the European Commission
recommended adding the two plant parts to the Fortifi-
cation Regulation. Ephedra herb was included in a list of
prohibited substances and Yohimbe bark was put for four
years under community scrutiny.
Food Safety
KiESEL interviewer in a respondent's home
KiESEL study: What do our children eat?
To assess the safety of food, the BfR needs up-to-date
information on what and how children eat. Children are
often more vulnerable than adults to various substances
contained in food. Previous assessments also show that
children have a comparatively higher intake of certain
substances when their lower body weight is taken into ac-
count. The last comprehensive nutritional survey on this
age group was conducted by University of Paderborn on
behalf of the BfR in 2001/2002 (VELS Study), so the BfR
is conducting a new study since 2014.
The German nutritional survey on children (KiESEL) is a
module of the German Health Interview and Examination
Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) conducted
by the Robert Koch Institute. KiESEL examines which
foods in which quantities on a day-to-day basis are con-
sumed by infants, toodlers and children. In preparation to
this project, the BfR worked on the improvement of survey
methods for the purposes of risk assessment in interna-
tional working groups and projects for several years and
contracted research projects related to these topics. The
new methods developed were successfully tested in a
pretest and are now being applied for the first time.
These newly generated data will help the BfR to assess
the intake of substances from foods. To ensure that the
data are as meaningful as possible, the BfR is conducting
the interviews throughout Germany, spread over the years
2014 to 2017. By 2017, a total of 1,000 children will be
interviewed by the BfR.
