“From expert to expert” - this is the motto of the 13th round of the BfR Summer Academy. From 30 June to 11 July 2025, the 23 participants of the courses in Berlin will be focusing on the topics of food safety and risk assessment: How is the legal and institutional background of food safety regulated in Germany and Europe? What characterises a well-founded risk assessment? And what needs to be considered when communicating health risks? “The 13th BfR Summer Academy will focus on mutual exchange and international networking. After all, food safety is a global challenge today. It doesn’t stop at borders. This makes it all the more important to jointly promote consumer health protection and thus protect the population from food-related diseases in the best possible way,” says Professor Andreas Hensel, President of the BfR. 

Bright colors, fruit imagery, and labels like “locally made” or “vegan” might seem harmless—but when used on cannabis edibles, they can send misleading messages to teens. That’s according to a new Washington State University-led study examining how adolescents perceive the packaging of cannabis-infused products such as gummies, chocolates and sodas. Despite regulations barring packaging that targets youth, many teens in the study found these products appealing— often likening them to everyday snacks or health foods.

Researchers at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have found that semaglutide, a popular diabetes and weight-loss drug, may lower the risk of dementia in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). The study, published today in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (DOI 10.1177/13872877251351329), suggests T2D patients taking semaglutide had a significantly lower risk of developing dementia compared to other antidiabetic medications. These results were more profound in women and older adults.