Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety


The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, until 2014 known as the Directorate-General for Health and Consumers, is a Directorate-General of the European Commission. The DG is responsible for the implementation of European Union laws on the safety of food and other products, on consumers' rights and on the protection of people's health. In 2006, DG Sanco launched the public Health-EU portal to provide European citizens with easy access to comprehensive information on Public Health initiatives and programmes at EU level.

Structure

Scientific Committees

DG-SANTE manages three independent Scientific Committees:
These Scientific Committees provide the European Commission with the scientific advice on non-food products that it needs when preparing policy and proposals relating to consumer safety, public health and the environment. The Committees also draw the Commission's attention to the new or emerging problems which may pose an actual or potential threat.

Agencies

Three agencies of the European Union are linked to DG-SANTE: the European Food Safety Authority, which the European Commission consults for questions concerning the safety of food products, the Community Plant Variety Office, which administers a system of plant variety rights, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, which helps the European Union combat communicable diseases and other serious health threats.

Health-EU Portal

Health-EU Portal is an official web portal of the Health and Food Safety Directorate-General that facilities the access of public-related health information to European Union citizens, launched in 2006. The site contains material on 47 health-related subjects and is in the 22 official languages of the EU. The Health-EU portal complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information.