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At the request of the Minister of social affairs and health, Professor Serge Hercberg submitted a report in January 2014 that recommends France-wide implementation of a nutritional information programme based on the Rayner's score system developed for the UK's Food Standards Agency. This information programme aims to provide consumers with information that will enable them to choose between food products based on their nutritional qualities. ANSES was asked by the Directorate General for Health (DGS) to assess the technical feasibility of deploying the proposed tool. In the report published today, ANSES concludes that implementation of the nutritional score, as defined by Rayner et al. (2005), appears to be technically feasible but would require supplementary data in addition to the data whose labelling will become mandatory in 2016 under the EU regulatory framework. ANSES also indicates that while the nutritional score seems able to effectively compare a large number of food groups, it does not do so sufficiently for certain other groups (non-alcoholic soft drinks, fats, cheeses, fruit purées, chocolates and chocolate-based products, etc.). Lastly, the Agency emphasises that its work did not aim to evaluate the relevance of using this tool for nutritional labelling, nor its capacity to inform the consumer, to induce changes in behaviour or in the food offer, or its overall relevance with regard to public health.

In a sustainable development context which aims to preserve water resources and save water in general, the recycling of greywater is a topic that often comes up. The recycling of treated greywater, which involves the collection, treatment and reuse of water from showers, bathtubs, bathroom sinks, washing machines, and sometimes kitchens, is not authorised in France for domestic purposes. In 2011, the Directorate General for Health asked ANSES to assess the potential health risks linked to the recycling of greywater in a domestic context. In the opinion and report that it published today, the Agency considers that the practice of recycling greywater in the home must be regulated, and that it must only be considered for strictly limited uses in geographical environments that are durably and repeatedly subject to water shortages. Individuals (building residents, occasional users, workers) must also be informed and trained in the required conditions of use in order to minimize the risks of non-potable water on the premises.

Construction materials, furniture and decoration products can be sources of indoor pollution due to the potentially harmful chemicals they sometimes release. Several European countries, including France, have drafted protocols and lowest concentrations of interest (LCIs) in order to qualify the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of some of these consumer goods. The goal of the LCI values is to prevent the onset of health effects due to long-term exposure to chemicals released from consumer goods. In collaboration with other European organisations and stakeholders, ANSES participated in work on the European harmonisation of these protocols and LCIs. This EU-level work, begun in 2011, is now widely available thanks to the creation of a dedicated website, eu-lci.org .