PhosAgro welcomes EU decision to limit cadmium content in food products

PhosAgro hails the decision of the European Commission to sharply limit the cadmium content in some food products in the European Union.

Regulation 2021/1323 amending the annex to Regulation 1881/2006 has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The new document reduces at least two times the previously established level of maximum concentration of cadmium in food on the European Union market. The expanded list of food products with the imposed limit on the content of cadmium includes 66 items.

This decision was made based on the analysis of long-term data on the content of cadmium in food in the EU, combined with confirmed information on the negative impact of this toxic substance on health, leading to the development of serious diseases, including cancer.

The European Commission refers to the conclusion of the European Food Safety Agency stating that accumulating in the human body, cadmium can cause renal dysfunction. The Agency also found that some social groups today, primarily children, are at risk of twofold exceeding the safe level of cadmium in the body.

“PhosAgro pays special attention to ESG issues. A key element of the company’s strategy until 2025 is sustainable development, which also implies PhosAgro’s contribution to solving global issues, including ensuring food security and improving the health of the world’s population,” said PhosAgro CEO Andrey Guryev. “We are happy to see the growing attention of the world community and the agricultural industry to food security and protection of human health, which resulted in the restrictions imposed by the European Union on the content of cadmium and other harmful impurities in food, as well as voluntary eco-labeling of mineral fertilizers without hazardous concentrations of cadmium and other heavy metals for human health and soil.

According to the statement of Andrey Guryev, the main task of PhosAgro is to ensure the availability of such safe fertilizers for farmers. Fertilizers of PhosAgro meet all the strictest environmental and quality requirements for applying the green label of the European Union. This label will enable European agricultural producers to choose in favor of eco-efficient mineral fertilizers so that their crops and food products stay safe for the health of consumers.