Vittorio Fattori

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations | FAO · Food Systems and Food Safety Division

Food contact materials should not release their constituent substances into food at levels harmful to human health nor change the food composition, taste, or odor unacceptably. The historical evolution of food packaging shows that the use of plastics has increased dramatically, because of its convenience, lightweight, and cost effectiveness, but ca...

Evolving science and debate concerning the benefits and risks of consuming fish have resulted in confusion over the years, and national and international food safety agencies have recognized the need to provide useful, clear and relevant information in this regard to consumers. In October 2023, FAO and WHO held the second Joint FAO/WHO Expert Consu...

Sustainable agrifood systems are needed to provide safe and nutritious food for the growing world’s population. To improve sustainability, transforming linear policies and practices in agrifood systems into circularity will be critical, with food safety considerations key for the success of this shift. This review provides a synthesis of the curren...

New food sources and production systems (NFPS) are garnering much attention, driven by international trade, changing consumer preferences, potential sustainability benefits, and innovations in climate‐resilient food production systems. However, NFPS can introduce new challenges for food safety agencies and food manufacturers. Most food safety hazar...

Global population increase and climate change continue to present challenges to the sustainability of the primary production of food. Among the efforts to address the challenges, exploration of the use of seaweed as food is gaining traction. World seaweed production has more than tripled since the turn of the millennium, increasing from 10.6 mi...

The use of veterinary drugs in food-producing animals may lead to residues in animal-derived foodstuffs, potentially posing a risk to human safety. While the process of veterinary drug residue risk assessment continues to evolve as new data emerges, a recurring challenge is when sub-optimal or incomplete data are provided with the expectation of su...

The Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF) at its 23rd session requested the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide scientific advice and risk management options in order to mitigate the unintended and unavoidable presence of residues of approved ve...

Risk assessments for pesticide and veterinary drug residues in food are performed respectively by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) and the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). The models used by the two Committees to assess chronic dietary exposure are based on different data and assumptions which m...

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become a priority issue in human medicine and agri-food systems, with many countries recognizing it as an important emerging threat to global public health and food security. In the past few years, a concerted global effort has attempted to bring this issue into the limelight and secure the political commitment to...

The risk assessment of residues of veterinary drugs in food is a field that continues to evolve. The toxicological end-points to be considered are becoming more nuanced and in light of growing concern about the development of antimicrobial resistance, detailed analysis of the antimicrobial activity of the residues of veterinary drugs in food is inc...

Background Seafood toxins pose an important risk to human health, and maximum levels were imposed by regulatory authorities throughout the world. Several toxin groups are known, each one with many analogues of the major toxin. Regulatory limits are set to ensure that commercially available seafood is not contaminated with unsafe levels. Scope and a...

This case study assesses the feasibility of a point-of-use (POU), nanomaterial-enabled photocatalytic water treatment device for use in rural areas in Swaziland. Small reservoirs provide water for irrigation and community consumption, but this water is highly contaminated with human and animal wastes. A prototype fluidized bed photoreactor—amended...

Background/objectives: To examine the bacteriological quality of complementary foods (CF) and to correlate the results with diarrhoeal morbidity and nutritional status of Bangladeshi children aged 6-24 months. Subjects/methods: A total of 212 CF samples were tested, of which 72 were collected immediately before the first time of feeding (≤ 1 h o...

Methylmercury (MeHg) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are food contaminants often found in fish. Experimental and epidemiological studies indicate that both PCBs and MeHg are developmental neurotoxicants, and some reports suggest that they may cause additive and/or synergistic neurotoxicity. We had previously investigated the effects of exposur...

Exposure to ethanol during development induces severe brain damage resulting in a number of CNS dysfunctions including microencephaly and mental retardation in humans and in laboratory animals. The most vulnerable period to ethanol neurotoxicity coincides with the peak of brain growth spurt. Recently, neurotrophic factors and/or their signal transd...

Exposure to ethanol during development induces severe brain damage, resulting in a number of CNS dysfunctions including microencephaly and mental retardation. Potential targets of ethanol-induced neurotoxicity include neurotrophic factors and their signal transduction pathways. In the present study, rat pups were given ethanol at the dose of 5 g kg...

Epidemiological and laboratory studies have suggested that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and methyl mercury (MeHg) may have additive or synergistic effects on CNS function. Aim of this study was to characterize the effects of exposure to low levels of MeHg (0.5mg/kgday in drinking water) and PCB126 (100ng/kgday in food), alone and in combination...

Methylmercury (MeHg) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are widespread environmental pollutants and food contaminants, and known developmental neurotoxicants. Aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of MeHg, PCB 126 and PCB 153 in a battery of in vitro cell systems. A total of 17 cell types were utilized, including nervous system (neuronal...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are an important class of flame retardants. Because of their presence in maternal milk and their structural similarity to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), concern has been raised on their possible developmental neurotoxicity. Aim of the present study was to investigate the in vitro effects of PBDE-99 (2,2', 4...

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are an important class of flame retardants. Because of their presence in maternal milk and their structural similarity to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), concern has been raised on their possible developmental neurotoxicity. Aim of the present study was to investigate the in vitro effects of PBDE-99 (2,2′, 4...