The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has proposed establishing a system to identify potential chemical risks in the food and feed supply chain. The purpose of this system is to generate a list of toxic chemicals that may have high environmental cumulative effects and have not been assessed, regulated, or authorized for use in food and feed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities have developed a procedure to identify substances of concern, starting with chemical substances listed in REACH notifications that have an annual production of one tonne or more within the EU. Screening is based on the following criteria:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Most likely to be released into the environment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
High yield, versatile, durable and bioaccumulative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 May accumulate in the environment<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The framework being developed will be further studied by a task force within Efsa to explore how to simplify the process. However, due to the involvement of food safety, the task force stated that the food and feed supply chain is highly diverse, data and information are very difficult to obtain, and the identification of toxic chemicals in food and feed will require personnel with very solid knowledge backgrounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Food Safety Authority (EFSA) stated that this mechanism will undergo a period of testing and case analysis. If the mechanism proves successful, EFSA will decide whether to arrange broader consultations with the competent authorities of all EU member states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n