February 28, 2021
EFSA

Call for continuous collection of chemical contaminants occurrence data in food and feed

European Union

Food / Beverage Consultations Feed Risk assessment Hazardous substances

1BACKGROUND - In the framework of Articles 23 and 33 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 EFSA has received from the European Commission a mandate (M-2010-0374) to collect all available data on the occurrence of chemical contaminants in food and feed. These data are used in EFSA’s scientific opinions and reports on contaminants in food and feed.

SUBMISSION OF DATA - National food authorities, research institutions, academia, food business operators and other stakeholders are invited to submit data on occurrence of contaminants with a focus on the substances and related substances listed below. This list is not exhaustive: the full list of contaminants that can be reported and their corresponding codes are published with this call in the file ‘Contaminants_PARAM.xlsx’.

Priority list of chemical contaminants to support scientific opinions in progress

Contaminants

Deadline for data submission*

Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) in feed for honeybees

31-May-21

Nitrosamines in food

30-Jun-21

Mineral oil hydrocarbons in food

30-Jun-21

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in food

01-Oct-21

Grayanotoxins in certain honey

01-Oct-21

Polychlorinated naphthalenes in food and feed

01-Oct-21

Fluoride in food

01-Oct-21

*Corresponds to the date where EFSA’s exposure assessors will extract the data to start the risk assessment. Data received after the indicated dates is unlikely to be considered in the ongoing scientific opinions but will be retained in the database for possible future scientific assessments.

List of chemical contaminants

Process Contaminants

Furan, 2-methylfuran, 3-methylfuran, 2,5-dimethylfuran, 2-ethylfuran and 2-pentyfuran

Acrylamide

PAHs

3-MCPD, 3-MCPD esters, 2-MCPD esters and glycidyl esters

Ethyl Carbamate

Organic contaminants

Dioxins and PCBs

Non dioxin-like PCBs

Brominated Flame Retardants

PFAS