Chemical substances play a major role in the production and distribution of food. Improvements to harvests and livestock production from plant protection products and medicinal products for veterinary use, respectively should be highlighted. This helps to reduce production costs and consequently lower the retail price to the consumer of the food. Food additives, for which the deliberate addition to food products has a technological purpose, help to improve the appearance of the food as it is put onto the market. In addition, materials such as plastics, paper, cardboard, etc. are used to keep food in optimum hygienic conditions and to permit its distribution as well as improving its appearance.

Nevertheless, the use of these materials results in the presence of chemical substances in the food, representing a potential risk which must be efficiently analysed, in order to offer the consumers guarantees that the food is safe.

The presence of chemical substances in food may also be of unintentional origin, produced by environmental contamination (air, water or soil) or by regular culinary practices (barbecues, fried foods, etc.), the risks of which must be also analysed.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the independent organism responsible for the risk assessment in the European Union, and issues scientific opinions on the risk factors identified.

It corresponds to the European Commission and the EU Member States to carryout adequate management of the risk derived from the EFSA assessment. This management largely involves the drafting of EU legislation. Thus, for example, we have a list of maximum residue limits for plant protection products (Regulation 396/2005), of contaminants in foodstuffs (Regulation 1881/2006), of food additives (Regulation 1333/2008), etc., covering all the areas relating to the presence of chemical substances in food.