Dear Commissioner Kyriakides,
Dear Heads of State,
Dear Ministers,

Many food products on our supermarket shelves are contaminated by aromatic hydrocarbons of mineral oils (MOAH). According to the European Food Safety Authority, these mineral oil compounds “may be both mutagenic and carcinogenic” and some of them are identified as endocrine disruptors. 

For the third time, foodwatch has proven, through laboratory tests, that products contaminated with MOAH are still on the shelves in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium.  The products which tested positively for MOAH in November 2021 include products from Unilever, Zentis, Ferrero and Lindt. 

Those hazardous substances have no place on our plates. The only way to protect all consumers from those invisible contaminants in food products is a mandatory EU regulation for zero tolerance to MOAH for all food categories. This is essential in order to respect the General Food Law (EC178/2002) and its article 14 on food safety requirements, which states that “food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe.” 

foodwatch has been raising the alarm on this issue since 2015 and this is the third set of laboratory tests that we are carrying out. In 2019 we revealed that half of the infant milk formulas tested were contaminated with MOAH. As a result, you, representatives of the European Commission and the Member States, decided for the first time to establish a threshold at 1 mg/kg of MOAH presence in baby milk powders, in a technical meeting in June 2020. 

This decision was an encouraging first step, but is far from enough, as demonstrated once more by the results of a new series of tests carried out by foodwatch on a broad range of food products. 
The companies have to withdraw the contaminated products from the shelves, but it is your responsibility to ensure the protection of “the health of citizens and the safety of the food they eat,” as declared as a priority by Commissioner Kyriakides.  

We therefore urge you to take the following urgent actions:
1.    Products tested with positive MOAH contamination have to be recalled immediately

2.    Adopt a Zero MOAH tolerance rule across the EU in ALL food categories, by prohibiting any detectable presence of MOAH with the most refined analytical methodology

Looking forward to your response and urgent action,
Yours sincerely,

Your first name & surname, place and comment, if given (will be completed automatically)

• Stella Kyriakides, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety

• Austria, Wolfgang  Mueckstein ,  Minister for Health and Consumer Protection
• Belgium, Alexander De Cross, Prime Minister
• Bulgaria, Rumen Radev, President of the Republic
• Croatia, Andrej Plenković, Prime Minister
• Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, President of the Republic
• Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš, Prime Minister
• Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister
• Ireland, Micheál Martin, The Taoiseach
• Estonia, Kaja Kallas, Prime Minister
• Finland, Sanna Marin, Prime Minister
• France, Emmanuel Macron, President of the Republic
• Germany, Cem Özdemir, Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection
• Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister
• Hungary , Viktor  Orbán, Prime Minister
• Italy, Mario Draghi , Prime Minister
• Latvia, Krišjānis Kariņš, Prime Minister
• Lithuania, Gitanas  Nausėda , President of the Republic
• Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister
• Malta, Robert Abela, Prime Minister
• Netherlands, Mark Rutte, Prime Minister
• Poland, Mateusz  Morawiecki, Prime Minister
• Portugal, Antonio Costa, Prime Minister
• Romania, Florin-Vasile CÎŢU, Prime Minister
• Slovakia, Eduard Heger, Prime Minister
• Slovenia, Janez Janša, Prime Minister
• Spain, Pedro Sánchez, Prime Minister
• Sweden, Magdalena Andersson, Prime Minister