Food and drinking water safety

Food

Food safety is very high on the agenda in Europe. Food additives and food contact materials are assessed to ascertain safe use and maximum levels are set for contaminants (environmental contaminants, mycotoxins etc.), to ensure the toxicological safety of food.

FoBiG supports food safety evaluations for both the food industry and authorities (European food Safety Authority (EFSA), German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR)), such as:

• Assessment of the toxic effects of contaminants, food contact materials and food additives (e.g. EFSA project on mycotoxins)
• Assessment of the exposure to substances from food (e.g. LExUkon project)
• Methodological issues of the assessment of substances in food (see e.g. projects on: maximum levels for non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic food contaminants such as arsenic.

Materials in contact with drinking water

Drinking water is our most important foodstuff. High quality requirements are therefore also imposed on all materials that come into contact with drinking water on its way to consumers. Since January 2024, a Europe-wide positive list (EUPL) has been in place, containing all approved substances, compositions and constituents that may be used in the manufacture of materials that come into contact with drinking water. Each entry in this list has an expiry date that marks the end of the approval for that substance; an application for an extension is possible.
The list of substances is subject to ongoing review and revision.

FoBiG offers support for companies and associations in

• the preparation of IUCLID data sets/dossiers for submission to the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA)
• the generation of new experimental data in accordance with the requirements of Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2024/365
• the experimental determination of migration values