Food Contaminants: Ninetieth meeting - Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)

Dates: 27 October to 5 November 2020
Location: Geneva

List of substances scheduled for evaluation and request for data

Attached is the list of substances (Annex 1) scheduled for evaluation or re-evaluation at the ninetieth-first meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). This list has been prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Secretariat of the Committee and is based on recommendations of Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF), previous Expert Committees, and direct requests from governments, or other interested organizations.

Also attached to this call for data is the list of Acceptable Previous Cargoes (Annex 2) requested by the Codex Committee on Fats and Oils (CCFO) to be evaluated by FAO and WHO. CCFO have requested FAO/WHO whether the listed substances were suitable as previous cargoes and to provide an assessment against the four criteria as mentioned in the Code of Practice for the Storage and Transport of Edible Fats and Oils in Bulk (CAC/RCP 36-1987).

Submission of data

Date for submission

The submission of data on the contaminants listed in Annex 1 and Annex 2 is requested before

15^th April 2020

This deadline applies to all data. 

Toxicological data for contaminants (Annex 1)

Data relevant to the toxicological evaluations of the contaminants on the agenda including the results of:

1. metabolism and pharmacokinetic studies;
2. short-term toxicity, long-term toxicity/carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, and developmental toxicity studies in animals and genotoxicity studies;
3. epidemiological studies; and
4. special studies designed to investigate specific effects, such as the mechanism of toxicity (including interactions among related contaminants, in particular as mentioned in annex 1), immune responses, or macromolecular binding

Data for previous cargoes (Annex 2)

Data or relevant evaluations related to the toxicological assessment of the previous cargoes listed in Annex 2.

1. Information about ease of cleaning (impact with respect to possible carry-over of residues into edible oils and fats);
2. toxicological profile; possible allergenicity; reactivity with edible oils and fats resulting in reaction products that would result in adverse human health effects for the substances and their expected impurities;

should be sent to:

Attention: Kim Petersen
Department of Nutrition and Food Safety
World Health Organization
Avenue Appia
1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
Facsimile: +41 (0) 22 791 4807
Telephone: +41 (0)22 791 1439
E-mail:  jecfa@who.int

Additional copies of the data might be needed and the JECFA Secretariat will inform the data provider on where to send additional copies in due course.

Occurrence data for contaminants (Annex 1)

Data relevant to the occurrence, and quantification of contaminants listed in annex 1 including:

1. levels and patterns of occurrence (and in some cases co-occurrence, see annex 1) of the listed contaminants in raw commodities and finished food products
2. levels of the listed contaminants in animal feed
3. information on carry-over of contaminants from feed to animals for human consumption
4. effects of processing on levels of contaminants in food as consumed and in feed
5. analytical techniques used by investigators or authorities for identifying and quantifying the listed contaminants in foodstuffs and/or human and animal tissues;
6. sampling protocols for the listed contaminants
7. methods available for the prevention and control of the listed contaminants

Data for previous cargoes (Annex 2)

Data or relevant evaluations related to the assessment of the previous cargoes listed in Annex 2.

1. Information about ease of cleaning (impact with respect to possible carry-over of residues into edible oils and fats);
2. Dilution factor in relation to the potential amount of residues of the previous cargo (including any impurity that the previous cargo might have contained) and the volume of fats/oils transported.
3. Solubility of contaminating residues
4. Refining/ processing of the fats and oils
5. Availability of analytical methods for the detection of trace amount of residues or for verifying the absence of contamination.
6. Reactivity
7. Allergenicity
   

should be sent to:

Attention: Dr Markus Lipp
Food Safety and Quality Unit - Room B-619
Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department (AG)
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Via delle Terme di Caracalla
00153 Rome,  Italy
Facsimile: +39 06 5705 4593
Telephone: +39 06 5705 3283
E-mail: jecfa@fao.org

Additional copies of the data might be needed and the JECFA Secretariat will inform the data provider on where to send additional copies in due course.

Intake assessment data

All data relevant to:

1. levels and patterns of human exposure from all relevant sources of the listed contaminants;
2. food consumption patterns; also considering different (age-)population groups
3. biomarkers of exposure

should be sent to FAO at the address above (jecfa@fao.org) and to WHO under the address above (jecfa@who.int). Additional copies should be sent to the experts assigned for the exposure assessment; please contact the FAO or WHO Secretariat for information on where to send the copies.

Presentation of data

Procedures for the evaluation of chemicals in food were updated and published by FAO and WHO (Methods and Principles for the Safety Assessment of Food Additives and

Contaminants in Food – Environmental Health Criteria No. 240, available at  https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241572408

Specific guidance on the evaluation of and data needs for food additives are also available from FAO and WHO (see  http://www.fao.org/food-safety/scientific-advice/jecfa/jecfa-guidelines/en/ and  https://www.who.int/groups/joint-fao-who-expert-committee-on-food-additives-(jecfa)/procedural-guidance). 

All relevant data, both positive and negative, should be submitted. Data should be presented, summarized and referenced in a clear and concise manner.

This call for data is available at both the FAO and WHO web sites:

http://www.fao.org/food-safety/scientific-advice/calls-for-data-and-experts/en/

https://www.who.int/groups/joint-fao-who-expert-committee-on-food-additives-(jecfa)/calls-for-data

Annex 1

List of substances scheduled for evaluation or re-evaluation

General information: Links to the available electronic versions of the reports published in the WHO Technical Report Series, monographs published in the WHO Food Additives Series, and specifications that are referenced below are available at the JECFA web-pages of FAO and WHO. FAO and WHO procedural guidelines and guidelines for the preparation of chemical and technical assessments (CTA), toxicological working papers and guidelines for the preparation of working papers on food additives, intake, and flavouring agents are available at 

• http://www.fao.org/food/food-safety-quality/scientific-advice/jecfa/jecfa-publications/en/
• https://www.who.int/groups/joint-fao-who-expert-committee-on-food-additives-(jecfa)

Previous JECFA reports and monographs should be consulted to obtain background information on the previous evaluations

References

Annex 2

Review of the list of acceptable previous cargoes

A) Current substances in the List of Acceptable Prvious Cargoes⁴

B) New Substance Proposed to be Added to the List of Acceptable Previous Cargoes

* Recommendation for evaluation due to its reactions products

Annex 3

Background

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) was established in the mid-1950s by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to assess chemical additives in food on an international basis. The first meeting was held in 1956 in response to recommendations made at an FAO/WHO Conference on Food Additives that met in Geneva in 1955.

In the early 1960s the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), which is an international intergovernmental body, was established. The primary aims of the CAC are to protect the health of the consumer and facilitate international trade in food. At the time that the CAC was formed it was decided that JECFA would provide expert advice to Codex on matters relating to food additives. A system was established whereby the Codex Committee on Food Additives, a general subject committee, identified food additives that should receive priority attention, which were then referred to JECFA for assessment before being considered for inclusion in Codex Food Standards.

This system is still in place, but it has been expanded to include food contaminants and residues of veterinary drugs in food to provide advice to the presently-existing Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA), Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food (CCCF) and Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF). JECFA also provides scientific advice directly to FAO and WHO Member States, and requests for assessment may come directly from them. JECFA is not a component of the CAC.

Specialists invited to serve as Members of JECFA are independent scientists who serve in their individual capacities as experts, and not as representatives of their governments or employers. The goal is to establish safe levels of intake and to develop specifications for identity and purity (food additives) or maximum residue limits when veterinary drugs are used in accordance with good practice in the use of veterinary drugs.

The reports of previous JECFA meetings are published in the WHO Technical Report Series ( https://www.who.int/groups/joint-fao-who-expert-committee-on-food-additives-(jecfa)/publications/reports). The toxicological evaluations that summarize the data that serve as the basis for the safety assessments, are published in the WHO Food Additives Series https://www.who.int/groups/joint-fao-who-expert-committee-on-food-additives-(jecfa)/publications/toxicological-monographs).

The specifications and veterinary drug residue evaluations are published in the FAO JECFA Monographs. The Combined Compendium of Food Additive Specifications of all current JECFA specifications is available on-line http://www.fao.org/food/food-safety-quality/scientific-advice/jecfa/jecfa-additives/en/. The updated database on specifications for flavouring agents is available at http://www.fao.org/food/food-safety-quality/scientific-advice/jecfa/jecfa-flav/en/. The Chemical Technical Assessments are available at http://www.fao.org/food/food-safety-quality/scientific-advice/jecfa/technical-assessments/en/.

A Summary of Evaluations performed by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, a comprehensive searchable database that summarizes all JECFA evaluations from the first through recent meetings, is available at http://apps.who.int/food-additives-contaminants-jecfa-database/search.aspx.

1. Report of the 13th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Food, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 29 April - 3 May 2019 (REP 19/CF – Appendix X)

2. Evaluation of certain mycotoxins in food (56th report of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives). WHO Technical Report Series, No. 906, 2002 

3. https://www.fao.org/fao-who-codexalimentarius/sh-proxy/en/?lnk=1&url=https%253A%252F%252Fworkspace.fao.org%252Fsites%252Fcodex%252FStandards%252FCXC%2B36-1987%252FCXP_036e.pdf

4. Report of the 24th Session of the Codex Committee on Fats and Oils, Melaka, Malaysia, 9 -13 13 February 2015 (REP 15/FO – Appendix V)

5. FAO/WHO. 2007. Development of criteria for acceptable previous cargoes for fats and oils. Report of a Joint FAO/WHO Technical Meeting, Bilthoven, the Netherlands. 7-9 November 2006.