EFSA Studies Carcinogenic Furan in Foods

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued an August 2, 2010, report urging member states to increase their monitoring of furan, a compound with aromatic properties that can form in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods and which has purportedly been shown to be carcinogenic in animal experiments. EFSA intends to use the report to support a dietary risk assessment on furan. It updates data submitted by 18 member states on furan levels in 4,186 foods sampled and analyzed between 2004 and 2009, with 8 percent of the samples reported as foods consumed.

The report sorted data into 21 different food categories (five coffee and 16 noncoffee categories), with the highest levels of furan found in the five coffee categories compared to other food groups. The highest non-coffee maximum concentrations were found in the “baby food” and “soups” categories. “

Jarred baby food and infant formula are of particular interest as they may form the sole diet for many infants and furan has been found in such commercial products,” EFSA said in a summary of the report, which concluded that “furan is present in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods for adults and infants. Future testing of furan by member states should preferably target food products where limited results are available and comprise, if possible, the sample analyzed as purchased followed by the same sample analyzed as consumed indicating the exact food preparation method used.”