Executive Summary:
This Commission Recommendation (EU) 2022/495 addresses the monitoring of furan and alkylfurans in food due to potential public health concerns. It urges Member States and food business operators to monitor these contaminants, particularly in specific food items, using reliable analytical methods and to report the data to EFSA annually by June 30th.
Key Points / Main Content:
Monitoring Requirements:
* Member States, with the active involvement of food business operators, should monitor furan, 2-methylfuran, and 3-methylfuran in specific foods: coffee, jarred baby food (including containers, tubes and pouches), ready-to-eat soup, potato-based crisps, fruit juices, breakfast cereals, biscuits, crackers, and crispbread.
* If the analytical method allows, determine other alkylfurans beyond 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran.
Sampling Procedures:
* Sampling should follow procedures in Part B of the Annex to Commission Regulation (EC) No 333/2007 or an equivalent representative sampling procedure.
Analytical Criteria:
* Analysis methods for furan, 2-methylfuran, and 3-methylfuran in coffee and jarred baby food must meet specific criteria for specificity, field blanks, repeatability, reproducibility, recovery, limit of detection (LOD), and limit of quantification (LOQ).
* For other foods, the same criteria apply, with LOQ not higher than 5 g/kg. Quality control procedures are needed to ensure reliability.
Reporting Requirements:
* Monitoring results must be provided to EFSA by June 30th of each year, following EFSA's Guidance on Standard Sample Description (SSD) for Food and Feed and specific reporting requirements.
Impact Analysis:
Member States:
* Impact: Required to actively monitor furan and alkylfurans in food, ensure sampling and analysis meet specified criteria, and report data to EFSA.
* Action Required: Implement monitoring programs, ensure compliance with sampling and analytical procedures, and report data to EFSA by June 30th annually.
Food Business Operators:
* Impact: Need to actively participate in monitoring efforts, apply appropriate sampling procedures, use analytical methods meeting the specified criteria, and provide data to Member States for reporting to EFSA.
* Action Required: Implement monitoring programs, comply with sampling and analytical procedures, and provide monitoring data to Member States.
EFSA (European Food Safety Authority):
* Impact: Receives and analyzes the monitoring data on furan and alkylfurans from Member States and food business operators.
* Action Required: Continue to collect and analyze data on the occurrence of chemical contaminants in food and feed, and use this data in scientific opinions and reports.
Key Entities Referenced
European Union: A political and economic union of member states located primarily in Europe.
European Commission: The executive branch of the European Union responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the EU treaties and managing the day-to-day business of the EU.
Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union: One of the primary treaties of the European Union, detailing the scope of the EU's powers.
Furan and alkylfurans: Process contaminants formed in foods during thermal processing, including methylfurans, 2-methylfuran, 3-methylfuran, and 2,5-dimethylfuran.
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): An agency of the European Union that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain.
Commission Regulation EC No 333/2007: A European Commission regulation laying down the methods of sampling and analysis for the official control of the levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, inorganic tin, 3-MCPD and benzoapyrene in foodstuffs.
Stella KYRIAKIDES: Member of the European Commission.
Brussels: The de facto capital city of the European Union, located in Belgium.
L 100/60 EN Official Journal of the European Union 28.3.2022
RECOMMENDATIONS
COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION (EU) 2022/495
of 25 March 2022
on monitoring the presence of furan and alkylfurans in food
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 292 thereof,
Whereas:
(1) Furan and alkylfurans, which include methylfurans such as 2-methylfuran, 3-methylfuran and 2,5-dimethylfuran, are
process contaminants that are formed in foods during thermal processing.
(2) The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain adopted a scientific opinion
in 2017 on the risks that the presence of furan and methylfurans in food poses to public health(1). It concluded that
the current levels of exposure to furan indicate a health concern. As for methylfurans, the opinion concluded that
they may add significantly to the overall exposure to furan and alkylfurans and therefore increase the health
concern. However, as data are lacking on the presence of methylfurans in food EFSA recommended producing
additional data in this area. In particular, furan and alkylfurans have been reported to occur in coffee, jarred baby
food, ready-to-eat soup, potato-based crisps, fruit juices, breakfast cereals, biscuits, crackers and crispbread.
(3) 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran can be reliably quantified with the currently available methods of analysis, while
further work is needed for the reliable analysis of 2,5-dimethylfuran. However, if the used method of analysis
enables it, it would be appropriate to analyse and quantify 2,5-dimethylfuran and to report the data.
(4) Furthermore, the scientific literature has recently pointed to the presence of food contaminants related to alkylfurans
other than methylfurans, such as 2-pentylfuran and 2-ethylfuran. It would therefore be appropriate to analyse and
quantify such additional (non-methylfurans) alkylfurans, provided that the method of analysis is reliable for this
purpose.
(5) The results of the monitoring of furan and alkylfurans must be reliable and comparable. It is therefore appropriate to
provide instructions on sampling and analytical performance criteria.
(6) EFSA has a mandate from the European Commission to collect all available data on the occurrence of chemical
contaminants in food and feed. These data are used in EFSA’s scientific opinions and reports on contaminants in
food and feed.
(7) It is therefore appropriate to recommend that furan and alkylfurans in food be monitored and the data reported to
EFSA.
HAS ADOPTED THIS RECOMMENDATION:
1. Member States should, with the active involvement of food business operators, monitor furan, 2-methylfuran
and 3-methylfuran in food, in particular in coffee, jarred baby food (including baby food in containers, tubes and
pouches), ready-to-eat soup, potato-based crisps, fruit juices, breakfast cereals, biscuits, crackers and crispbread.
(1) EFSA CONTAM Panel (EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain), Scientific opinion on the risks for public health related to the
presence of furan and methylfurans in food. EFSA Journal 2017;15(10):5005, 142 pp. https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.500528.3.2022 EN Official Journal of the European Union L 100/61
2. To ensure that the samples are representative, Member States should follow the sampling procedures laid down in
part B of the Annex to Commission Regulation (EC) No 333/2007(2). Food business operators should also apply
this sampling procedure or an equivalent sampling procedure, ensuring the sample is representative.
3. For the analysis of furan, 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran in coffee and jarred baby food, Member States and food
business operators should use a method that complies with the following criteria:
Parameter Criterion
Specificity Free from matrix or spectral interferences
Field blanks Less than limit of detection (LOD)
Repeatability (RSDr) 0,66 times RSDR as derived from (modified) Horwitz
equation
Reproducibility (RSDR) As derived from (modified) Horwitz equation
Recovery 80 – 110 %
Limit of detection (LOD) Three tenths of LOQ
Limit of quantification (LOQ) For coffee: not higher than 20 μg/kg
For jarred baby food: 5 μg/kg
For the analysis of furan in foods other than coffee and jarred baby food, Member States and food business operators
should use a method that complies with these criteria and the limit of quantification (LOQ) should not be higher
than 5 μg/kg.
For the analysis of 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran in foods other than coffee and jarred baby food, laboratories
should have quality control procedures in place to ensure the reliability of the obtained analytical results where the
LOQ should not be higher than 5 μg/kg.
4. If the used method of analysis enables the determination of alkylfurans other than 2-methylfuran and 3-methylfuran,
Member States and food business operators should determine those alkylfurans.
5. Member States and food business operators should provide the monitoring results to EFSA by 30 June of each year,
in line with the requirements of EFSA’s Guidance on Standard Sample Description (SSD) for Food and Feed and
EFSA’s additional specific reporting requirements(3).
Done at Brussels, 25 March 2022.
For the Commission
Stella KYRIAKIDES
Member of the Commission
(2) Commission Regulation (EC) No 333/2007 of 28 March 2007 laying down the methods of sampling and analysis for the official
control of the levels of lead, cadmium, mercury, inorganic tin, 3-MCPD and benzo(a)pyrene in foodstuffs (OJ L 88, 29.3.2007, p. 29).
(3) https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/call/call-continuous-collection-chemical-contaminants-occurrence-data-0