Background
The 14th Session of the Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF14) agreed to establish an Electronic Working Group (EWG) led by India to establish maximum levels (MLs) for total aflatoxins in ready to eat peanuts and certain spices and total ochratoxin A in certain spices for consideration by CCCF15 in 2022.
We are requesting submission of new data on total aflatoxins in the following food commodities:
- Ready to eat peanuts,
- Nutmeg,
- dried chili,
- paprika,
- ginger,
- pepper,
- turmeric.
We are requesting submission of new data on ochratoxin A in the following food commodities:
- Nutmeg,
- dried chili,
- paprika,
- ginger,
- pepper,
- turmeric.
We are requesting submission of new data covering approximately the last 10 years. Data should be submitted as indicated below, to allow time for data analysis and drafting of the paper by the EWG. The call for data can also be viewed online at https://www.who.int/teams/nutrition-and-food-safety or http://www.fao.org/food/food-safety-quality/scientific-advice/calls-data-experts/en/.
Date for submission
The submission of data is requested before
15 October 2021
This deadline applies to all data to be submitted.
WHO will be compiling data for the EWG. All new data must be submitted to WHO through the GEMS database, which is easily accessible here: https://www.who.int/teams/nutrition-and-food-safety/databases/global-environment-monitoring-system-food-contamination. On that web page, please read the “Instructions for electronic submission of data on chemical contaminants in food and the diet” before attempting to submit data to GEMS. To submit data, you will need an account, and instructions on creating an account are found on page 2 of the Instructions manual. For technical questions about submitting data to GEMS, please contact Philippe Verger at WHO (vergerp@who.int).
Note that data already submitted to the GEMS Food Database do not need to be re-submitted.
When submitting data to the GEMS/Food database for this work, please provide:
- Complete information on the LOQ and LOD of analytical methods.
- Complete information for identification of the samples (seriel number);
- Information for country of origin (for imported food);
- Information in the “Local Food Identifier” or “Notes” fields of the database to allow more specific identification of samples, e.g., Is a food fresh or processed (e.g. fermented, dried/dehydrated, chips, boiled, flour, etc.); and
- Information on “State of Food Analysed” e.g., cooked or raw.