Food safety is a requirement stipulated by Section 14 of EU Basic Regu­lation (EC) No. 178/2004. Food safety monitoring activities conducted by state inspection agencies ensure nationwide compliance with the high levels of food safety in Germany. As well as monitoring microbial loads in foodstuffs, the agencies also focus on a wide range of chemical contaminants, such as dioxins. Whether the foodstuffs have been contaminated with these kinds of potentially...

Occurance and fate of micropollutants, metabolites and transformation products in the water cycle is placing increasingly higher demands on instrumental analysis in terms of resolution and sensitivity. As yet, effect-directed analysis methods play a subordinate role in water analysis work. Yet for evaluating unknown samples or ingredients, these methods form a perfect complement to instrument-based identification. Indeed, in the detection of estrogenically...

In 1962, biologist Rachel Carson published her world-famous book “Silent Spring”, in which she warned of the consequences of inconsiderate use of DDT. DDT accumulates in the food chain and, thanks to its ­hormone-mimicking effects, causes serious damage to the organisms ­at the end of such food chains. One such effect is that the shells of many birds’ eggs become so thin that they break during incubation. The consequence: a silent spring without...