U.S. imported food violate EU laws: Dutch watchdog

Food products imported from the United States and sold in Dutch stores often don't comply with European laws and regulation, Foodwatch announced after investigating 86 such products sold by Albert Heijn, Jumbo and Jamin, among others.

According to the watchdog, none of the products fully complied with EU laws. "We already suspected that there are problems in the supervision on these types of American import products, but that not one product from a sample of over 80 products fully complied with European regulation is really scary", Foodwatch said in a statement.

For example, chemically bleached flour - which is banned in the EU - was found in cookies, pasta and other baked products. And a number of products lacked the mandatory warnings for allergens and mandatory nutrition information. "This shows that supervision on these products by both the government and industry is massively failing", according to the watchdog.

The results of this study were shared with the relevant importers, supermarkets and Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA.