The Indoor Environment Quality Observatory (OQEI), run by the Scientific and Technical Centre for Building (CSTB) and the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), is presenting the first results from the Second National Housing Campaign (CNL2), which has documented changes in air quality in French homes since the previous campaign (2003-2005). More than 170 pollutants were measured. This first report from the CNL2 covers results relating to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and radon. The results of this study, which was carried out by the CSTB, have been validated by the OQEI's Scientific Board.

Facilitating access to research data and results is essential for the mobilisation of scientific knowledge. ANSES has recently launched a portal in the HAL open archive for publications relating to the projects funded by the National Research Programme for Environmental and Occupational Health (PNR EST). This supplements a series of actions aimed at opening up data from the research projects financed by the Agency.

From food production to consumption, ANSES provides scientific expertise to ensure that food is as safe as possible. This includes developing analytical methods, conducting studies on the safety of novel foods, and monitoring food poisoning incidents. On World Food Safety Day, discover seven concrete actions taken by our scientists to protect consumer health.

Microplastics are present in all beverages, but those packaged in glass bottles contain more microplastic particles than those in plastic bottles, cartons or cans. This was the surprising finding of a study conducted by the Boulogne-sur-Mer unit of the ANSES Laboratory for Food Safety. The scientists hypothesised that these plastic particles could come from the paint used on bottle caps. Water and wine are less affected than other beverages. These findings have highlighted a source of microplastics in drinks that manufacturers can easily take measures to address.

Located in a livestock farming region at the heart of Brittany since 1975, the Fougères Laboratory has evolved to specialise in risks associated with veterinary medicinal products and chemical contaminants in food. Tahar Ait Ali, the Laboratory’s Director, tells us about its history and activities.

Some forms of arsenic are toxic and even carcinogenic. ANSES’s Laboratory for Food Safety has developed an innovative method that will enable their concentration in different foods to be more accurately measured. This breakthrough will enhance the assessment of consumer exposure and health risks.

In 2020, a new genotype of swine influenza virus, responsible for swine flu, emerged in France and quickly replaced certain previous strains. Scientists at ANSES’s Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort Laboratory conducted a study to understand how this rapid change could have occurred. The emergence of a new genotype poses a risk to the health of pigs and humans alike.

Scientists at ANSES’s Laboratory for Food Safety have reviewed the reference temperature used to calculate the use-by dates of ready-to-eat refrigerated foods. This temperature takes account of those actually observed in domestic refrigerators in 16 European countries. It was defined to prevent foodborne infections caused by pathogenic bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes .

Since early 2025, outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease have been reported in Germany, and more recently in Hungary and Slovakia. We provide an update on this highly contagious disease and ANSES's role as the European Union Reference Laboratory, a mandate it shares with the Sciensano Institute in Belgium.