Responding to a request from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel for Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) has published a statement on the presences of microplastics and nanoplastics in food, particularly seafood. According to the CONTAM panel, microplastics range in size from 0.1 to 5,000 μm and are either manufactured to that size (primary microplastics) or fragmented (secondary microplastics). Nanoplastics, which range in size from approximately 1 to 100 nm (0.001–0.1 μm), “originate from engineered material or can be produced during fragmentation of microplastic debris.” After reviewing the scientific literature, the panel concludes that more work is needed to develop and standardize analytical methods for microplastics and nanoplastics “in order to assess their presence, identity and to quantify their amount in food.” As the statement notes, “Occurrence data are limited. In contrast to microplastics no methods or occurrence data in…
Category Archives European Food Safety Authority
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a new working group “to evaluate new scientific evidence on the potential effects of bisphenol A (BPA) on the immune system.” Prompted by a Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment report on new studies “describing pre- and perinatal effects of BPA on the immune system,” EFSA’s Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavorings and Processing Aids plans to issue a scientific statement on BPA and immunotoxicity at its September 13-15, 2016, plenary meeting. See EFSA News Release, June 20, 2016. Issue 609
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) has issued a scientific opinion assessing the human health risks of free and esterified 3- and 2-monochloropropane-1, 2-diol (MCPD) and glycidyl esters (GE) in food. According to CONTAM, which considered 7,175 occurrence data, “esters of 3- and 2-MCPD and glycidyl esters were found at the highest levels in palm oil/fat, but most vegetable oil/fats contain substantial quantities.” The panel warned that these substances—which form when refining vegetable oils at high temperatures—pose potential health concerns “for average consumers of these foods in all young age groups, and for high consumers in all age groups.” “There is sufficient evidence that glycidol is genotoxic and carcinogenic, therefore the CONTAM Panel did not set a safe level for GE,” said CONTAM Chair Helles Knutsen in a May 3, 2016, press release. “The exposure to GE of babies consuming solely infant…
The EU General Court has confirmed a European Commission decision finding that German company Dextro Energy's health claims for its glucose supplements are contrary to the messages of national and international authorities on the health risks associated with sugar consumption. The commission decided the issue in January 2015 despite advice from the European Food Safety Authority suggesting that the consumption of glucose could be linked to normal energy-yielding metabolism. "Even if those health claims were to be authorised only subject to specific conditions of use and/or were accompanied by additional messages or warnings, the Commission considered that the message nevertheless remained confusing for consumers, with the result that the claims in question should not be authorised," stated a March 16, 2016, press release from the General Court summarizing the opinion. Issue 598
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched a website and blog “dedicated to its work on bee health.” Dubbed the #EFSA- 4Bees campaign, the new site is part of the agency’s MUST-B project, a collaborative venture among researchers, data analysts and regulators “with the ultimate goal of developing a software tool that can assess the combined threat posed to bee colonies in their natural environment by parasites, infectious agents, pesticides and other stressors.” To start, the MUST-B project will hold a roundtable at an upcoming scientific workshop to identify research topics that could receive funding under the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program. “Round the table will be representatives of the European Commission’s directorategenerals for Agriculture, Health and Food Safety, and Research and Innovation; members of bee research projects funded by the European Commission, such as Smartbees, Swarmonitor and Alarm; and colleagues from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Animal…
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavorings and Processing Aids (CEF) has announced a public consultation on its draft statement on exposure assessment of food enzymes. Recognizing the difficulty in applying current exposure assessment guidelines to food enzymes, which are added during processing of food and food ingredients, the draft statement recommends a tiered approach based on “more realistic” exposure scenarios as opposed to methods that rely solely on upper use levels. In particular, the CEF Panel notes that food enzyme guidance adopted in 2009 stipulates that, “Potential human exposure to the food enzyme and to any other constituent or by-product of concern should be assessed considering all proposed uses. A conservative technique such as the ‘budget method’ should be used … assuming that they (i.e. foods and beverages) always contain the food enzyme at its proposed upper use level.” This budget method apparently…
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavorings and Processing Aids (CEF Panel) has issued a scientific opinion recommending revisions to the safety assessments conducted for food contact materials (FCM). After considering scientific comments received during public consultation, the CEF Panel advocates new standards for estimating food intake and calculating the level of FCM migration into food. The scientific opinion also finds that genotoxicity testing for FCM substances should be mandatory even in low-exposure scenarios, and that nanomaterials used in FCM should be evaluated on a “case by case” basis. To address different consumption scenarios, the CEF Panel divided foods into four categories based on exposure data extrapolated from EFSA’s Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database as well as “default water consumption figures set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for infants.” For each of these food categories, the panel identified the “critical” age group with…
Responding to a novel food application submitted pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 258/97, the European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) has verified the safety of cow’s milk treated with ultraviolet (UV) radiation to extend its shelf life. According to the NDA, the UV treatment increased the milk’s D3 concentrations but not in amounts likely to exceed the tolerable upper intake levels established by EFSA for children ages 1–10 years, adolescents and adults. “UV-treated milk is comparable to non-UV-treated milk, except for the vitamin D3 content,” states the NDA opinion. “No adverse effects regarding the contribution of milk to nutrient intakes are expected from the consumption of UV-treated milk in substitution of non-UV-treated milk. The Panel considers that the novel food is not nutritionally disadvantageous.” Issue 590
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA Panel) has issued two scientific opinions deriving dietary reference values (DRVs) for iron and copper. After estimating whole-body iron losses and absorption values for men and women, the panel set the population reference intake (PRI) at 11 mg/ day for men and postmenopausal women; infants ages 7 to 11 months; children ages 7 to 11 years; and boys ages 12 to 17 years. It also established PRIs of 16 mg/day for premenopausal women; 13 mg/day for girls ages 12 to 17 years; and 7 mg/day in children ages 1 to 6 years. Due to the absence of biomarkers indicating copper status as well as limited data, the NDA Panel only defined adequate intakes (AIs) “based on mean observed intakes in several European Union (EU) countries, given that there is no evidence of overt copper deficiency in…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a scientific opinion assessing any potential risks associated with the use of insect protein in food and animal feed. Concluding that chemical and biological risks depend on production method, the type of substrate used, and insect species, the expert panel specifically notes that “the occurrence of prions—abnormal proteins that can cause diseases such as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in humans—is expected to be equal or lower if the substrate does not include protein derived from humans (manure) or ruminants.” The report also calls for more data about the possible accumulation of cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury, and other heavy metals in farm-raised insects. “EFSA concludes that when non-processed insects are fed with currently permitted feed materials, the potential occurrence of microbiological hazards is expected to be similar to that associated with other nonprocessed sources of protein,” states a…
