EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF); Scientific Opinion on Flavouring Group Evaluation 12, Revision 2 (FGE.12Rev2): Primary saturated or unsaturated alicyclic alcohol, aldehyde, acid, and esters from chemical group 7

The Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids of the European Food Safety Authority was requested to evaluate 10 flavouring substances in the Flavouring Group Evaluation 12 (FGE.12), including an additional substance in revision 3, using the Procedure in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1565/2000. This revision is made due to inclusion of one additional flavouring substance, 2,6,6-trimethylcyclohex-2-ene-1-carboxaldehyde [FL-no: 05.182]. None of the substances were considered to have genotoxic potential. The substances were evaluated through a stepwise approach (the Procedure) that integrates information on structure-activity relationships, intake from current uses, toxicological threshold of concern, and available data on metabolism and toxicity. The Panel concluded that all 10 substances [FL-no: 02.134, 02.186, 05.157, 05.182, 05.183, 05.198, 08.135, 09.342, 09.670 and 09.829] do not give rise to safety concerns at their levels of dietary intake, estimated on the basis of the MSDI approach. Besides the safety assessment of these flavouring substances, the specifications for the materials of commerce have also been considered. Specifications including complete purity criteria and identity for the materials of commerce have been provided for all 10 candidate substances

Assessing the role of CAP for more sustainable and healthier food systems in Europe:A literature review

Today, the European food system is characterized by unhealthy dietary trends, environmentally unsustainable production, and a dependency on an ageing farming population. The ongoing reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) represents an opportunity to redress these issues. This literature review highlights trends in how academic and grey literature have received CAP attempts in addressing the (i) environmental issues, (ii) nutritional outcomes, and (iii) rural livelihoods. Additionally, future policy and research directions relating to the CAP have been identified from the selected literature. The reviewed literature varies in approach and perspective. In particular, since the environment and rural development are already part of the CAP, the reviewed studies analyze and propose improvements to existing mechanisms. While for nutrition, the reviewed studies assessed possible policy strategies for integrating this sphere within the CAP, highlighting both the complexity of this task as well as its potential benefits. Despite these differences, a clear commonality emerged from the policy recommendations: the CAP should promote the European Union (EU) policy integration and multi-disciplinary and participatory research as key strategies to meet food system sustainability targets.</p

Elite or middling? International students and migrant diversification

Student migrants from former sending regions now form a substantial share of non-European Union migration flows to Europe. These flows represent the convergence of extensive internationalisation of higher education with increasing restrictions on family and labour migration. This article provides the first examination of student migrants? early socio-cultural and structural integration by following recently arrived Pakistani students in London over an 18-month period. We use latent class analysis to identify both elite and two ?middling? types ? middle class and network-driven ? within our student sample. We then ask whether these types experience early socio-cultural and structural integration trajectories that differ in the ways that the elite and middling transnational literatures would suggest. We find differences in structural, but less in socio-cultural outcomes. We conclude that to understand the implications of expanding third country student migration across the European Union, it is important to recognize both the distinctiveness of this flow and its heterogeneity

Unemployment insurance reform – 1991–2006 : a new balance between rights and obligations in France, Germany, Portugal and Spain

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, focusing on unemployment insurance schemes, the article seeks to identify the development of social rights and obligations in four countries (France, Germany, Portugal and Spain), representative of the conservative regime, over the period 1991–2006. Second, the article aims to verify whether or not there was a common reform trajectory in time as well as in space, given the already known divergence over the appropriateness of classifying Mediterranean countries within the framework of a specific regime. Based on analysis of 25 legislative changes concerning entitlement and eligibility criteria, the study presents three major findings. First, the four insurance schemes reveal a new balance between (weaker) social rights and (stronger) obligations, which may indicate a trend toward a re-commodification of work. Second, Portugal adopted a specific trajectory while the Spanish reform process more closely resembled that carried out by France and Germany. Finally, two waves of reform may be identified: first, between 1991 and 1997 and justified by cost-containment concerns and, subsequently, from 2001 onwards, associated with a stronger recalibration of benefit rights

Food beyond the City – Analysing Foodsheds and Self-Sufficiency under different Food System Scenarios in European Metropolitan Regions

The debate on urban resilience and metabolism has directed increasing attention to the ecological footprint of food consumption, self-sufficiency as a means of food security, and regionalisation of food systems for shortening supply chains. Recently, metropolitan regions have proposed food policies that aim to foster local food systems connected to their cities. Our research thus focused on the relationship between urban food demand and metropolitan land use.We have developed the Metropolitan Foodshed and Self-sufficiency Scenario (MFSS) model, which combines regional food consumption and agricultural production parameters in a data-driven approach to assess the spatial extent of foodsheds as well as the theoretical self-sufficiency of the communities they serve. The model differentiates between food groups, food production systems, levels of food loss and waste as well as food origin. With regard to future urban growth, we applied the model to current and future population projections.Results show substantial variations in the spatial extent of metropolitan foodsheds and self-sufficiency levels between the case study regions London, Berlin, Milan and Rotterdam, depending on population density and distribution, geographical factors and proximity to neighbouring urban agglomerations. The application of the model as a food planning tool offers a new perspective on the potential role of metropolitan regions for strengthening urban self-sufficiency. It also enables the ex-ante assessment of spatial consequences of changes within metropolitan food systems, on both demand and supply sides. In particular, we discuss possible dietary and consumption changes, but also production and supply chain alternatives.</p

Forms of knowledge and eco-innovation modes: Evidence from Spanish manufacturing firms

The paper investigates the knowledge drivers of firms' eco-innovations (EI) by retaining the diverse nature of their target. Different internal and external knowledge sources are examined and the evidence of EI-modes is searched for with respect to a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms covering the 2007–2009 and 2010–2012 periods. An “attenuated” Science, Technology, EI-mode prevails internally, with R&D more pivotal than either embodied or disembodied non-R&D knowledge, depending on the EI strategy. Externally, synthetic knowledge matters more than the analytical one, suggesting instead a Doing, Using, Interacting EI-mode. Hence, a dichotomic combination of the two modes emerges across the firm's boundaries. However, remarkable differences are in place, depending on whether EIs target efficiency or non-efficiency related environmental improvements. Our evidence also shows that internal and external knowledge turn out difficult to combine, both within and across modes

EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF) ; Scientific Opinion on Flavouring Group Evaluation 06, Revision 4 (FGE.06Rev4 ): Straight - and branched - chain aliphatic unsaturated primary alcohols, aldehydes, carboxylic acids and esters from chemical groups 1, 3 and 4

The Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids of the European Food Safety Authority was requested to evaluate 56 flavouring substances in the Flavouring Group Evaluation 6, Revision 4, using the Procedure in Commission Regulation (EC) No 1565/2000. This revision is made due to the inclusion of six additional flavouring substances, (-)-3,7-dimethyl-6-octen-1-ol [FL-no: 02.229], dec-4(cis)-enal [FL-no: 05.137], neral [FL-no: 05.170], trans-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienal (geranial) [FL-no: 05.188], trans-3-hexenyl formate [FL-no: 09.562] and cis-3-hexenyl 2-methylbutanoate [FL-no: 09.854]. None of the substances were considered to have genotoxic potential. The substances were evaluated through a stepwise approach (the Procedure) that integrates information on structure-activity relationships, intake from current uses, toxicological threshold of concern and available data on metabolism and toxicity. The Panel concluded that the 56 substances [FL-no: 02.125, 02.138, 02.152, 02.170, 02.175, 02.176, 02.195, 02.201, 02.222, 02.229, 02.234, 05.061, 05.082, 05.137, 05.143, 05.170, 05.174, 05.188, 05.203, 05.217, 05.218, 05.220, 05.226, 08.074, 08.100, 08.102, 09.341, 09.368, 09.377, 09.562, 09.567, 09.569, 09.572, 09.575, 09.612, 09.638, 09.640, 09.643, 09.672, 09.673, 09.674, 09.831, 09.838, 09.854, 09.855, 09.871, 09.872, 09.884, 09.885, 09.897, 09.898, 09.928, 09.937, 09.938, 09.939 and 09.950] do not give rise to safety concern at their levels of dietary intake, estimated on the basis of the MSDI approach. Besides the safety assessment of these flavouring substances, the specifications for the materials of commerce have also been considered. Adequate specifications including complete purity criteria and identity for the materials of commerce have been provided for all 56 candidate substances