Food and Feed Safety: Another Dangerous Deregulation at the Expense of Workers & Citizens’ Health

Food and Feed Safety: Another Dangerous Deregulation at the Expense of Workers & Citizens' Health

Dec 17, 2025| Agriculture, Food, In the spotlight, Press release

EFFAT is concerned by the Commission's "Food & Feed Safety" initiativeand calls it for what it is: deregulation that threatens the wellbeing of agro-food workers and consumers alike.

The European Commission has made the callous decision to weaken the core pillars of the food and feed safety legal framework, which would jeopardise the EU's world-leading food and feed standards.

The proposal would move Europe away from requiring the approval for pesticides, biocides, and feed additives in our food systems to be renewed up to 10-15 years, switching to a system where the Commission would grant approval for active substances in perpetuity.

Such a decision contradicts the real-world value of the automatic requirement to renew, where toxic chemicals, such chlorpyrifos and neonicotinoids, have had their renewal denied due to evolving science.

Additionally, the draft text would retroactively extend all current, time-bound authorisations indefinitely, meaning the 2033 review of Glyphosate would no longer take place, even when there is emerging evidence on the links to cancer even at the EU's existing "safe" levels.

Whilst the Commission would retain some authority to request renewals for certain substances where data gaps and new findings occur, this process would be highly politicised and many of these substances that could pose risks would go largely unchecked. Clearly, these proposed changes violate the precautionary principle that safeguards European citizens' well-being.

Furthermore, when Member States consider domestic authorisation of such substances, they would no longer have to consider the latest scientific evidence in their decision.

The Commission has decided to double the grace period for which it allows recently banned substances to be sold, distributed, and used.

This means that these harmful products could now be in circulation three years after they are banned.

As EFFAT, we know the countless risks that agricultural workers put themselves through each day, with chemical and pesticide exposure being among the most dangerous occupational hazards. Acute poisoning from working with such substances can cause nausea, seizures, respiratory failure while long-term effects manifest themselves in chronic illness like cancer, neurological disorders, reproductive harm.

A global systematic estimate of acute unintentional pesticide poisonings (UAPP) suggests that about 1.6 million cases occur in Europe each year, with many UAPP cases for agricultural workers being under-recorded. (Source Rising pesticides use harming farmers, environment: report - DW - 01/12/2022).

This proposal, in no uncertain terms, places unnecessary and unacceptable risks on agro-food workers and their wellbeing. We call on the Commission to withdraw its plan and we reiterate our call for more evidence-based licensing processes of pesticides as well our demand for employers to provide workers with official documentation on the types of pesticides they will use.

Europe's rules have been effectively designed, ensuring that the food Europe produce is safe, both for those who harvest and process it and those who eat it. The fact we have the highest food safety and quality standards globally has contributed to the creation of thousands of jobs across the food chain, ensuring Europe is a net exporter of quality food.

This proposal does nothing but weaken our food and feed security system with no benefit to those who uphold and rely upon it.