Lithuanian households spend about 30 – 40 % of their average household expenditure on food. In Europe, today, we are fortunate. In the space of a generation, our diets have become more varied and diverse, with ingredients and dishes from all over the continent and the world. Has the food however on our plates become safer with high-tech quality control tools complementing European and national legislation? Safe food is food that is free of contaminants. Consolidated production and distribution chains filter out sub-standard and contaminated produce. However, they are not perfect and sometimes fail to detect harmful contaminants. Paradoxically, the consequences of such rare breakdowns can be the rapid spread of contaminated food products owing to the interconnectedness of modern supply chains. This means that it is becoming increasingly important to ensure that contamination does not occur and to detect and react to it rapidly if and when it does.

Understanding the health risks of chemical pollutants in food is a complex, multidisciplinary task, and European research in this important field is currently fragmented. Endocrine disrupting chemicals affect hormone receptors in the cell nucleus and can have serious effects on physical development and health (for example, that of brain or reproductive functions).

The last two decades the genetic manipulations have become very popular. GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms) danger hasn’t been proved yet, however the side effects haven’t been thoroughly investigated either. Nowadays the most common genetically modified plants are soybeans, cotton, rapeseed, maize. Other popular GM plants are rice, potatoes, aubergines, bananas, oranges, decaffeinated coffee, etc. It has been noticed already that genetically modified foods can cause allergic reactions to previous non-allergic food or immunity to antibiotics. In the EU products containing more than 0,9% GMO must be labelled. It is recommended to avoid food imported from the USA, Canada, Brazil, as these countries produce the largest amount of GM products. You can find more information on GMO in http://www.gmo-compass.org.

Every consumer makes his/her own decision. While choosing food products, it is necessary to examine the label carefully. Environmental product is always eco-labelled containing the most important information about the identified producer, his certification number and certification authority. The production of eco-products is strictly regulated according to the Requirements of Ecological Agriculture. While using such products you will not harm your and your children’s health and protect environment. You shouldn’t mix “ecological” and “natural” products with the products “only from natural ingredients”, “free of hormones”, “not genetically modified”, because the last-mentioned terms don’t mean ecological. The only term legislated in the EU and Lithuania is “ecological”.