The Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and the 2030 Agenda plans to dismiss the director of the Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) this Thursday. Isabel Peña-Rey Lorenzo, a specialist in family and community medicine, had been at the head of the organization since 2021, when she was appointed by former Consumer Affairs Minister Alberto Garzón.
His position, until now freely appointed, will be filled after a public competition for civil servants, as established by a new rule approved in May, a ministry spokesperson confirmed to elDiario.es.
Social rights sources justify that AESAN has begun “a new stage that requires an executive direction with different characteristics”, more focused on “technical” issues such as “food control”. “During the time that has passed since his appointment, in free designation, the conditions that motivated him have changed”, they affirm from the team led by Minister Pablo Bustinduy.
A study by Ecologistas en Acción revealed this Wednesday the pesticides that can be found in foods consumed in Spain. The study highlighted that Spain is at the bottom of the scale of samples analyzed per 100,000 inhabitants. Study 3.61 foods compared to 200 in Bulgaria; 22 in Germany, or 19 in France. These analyses are the responsibility of the Spanish Food Safety Agency.
Since 2021, the organization has promoted actions such as the national strategic plan to reduce childhood obesity or the promotion of limitations on advertising for unhealthy foods – which ultimately did not come to fruition – as well as the royal decree aimed at promoting healthy eating in school canteens.
