Chemicals in food 2015 : overview of data collection reports

Across Europe efforts are made to collect, monitor and analyse information on levels of chemicals in plants, animals, food and drinks. This work helps national and European authorities to be aware of the situation on the ground and to measure the impact of existing controls. It can also help to understand if new safety assessments or control measures are needed and to set priorities for future research funding and data collection activities. These data can also be used in risk assessments of individual substances. Because EFSA acts as an information hub for several activities in this area it has been asked by the European Commission to produce a yearly report on Chemicals in Food for the general public. The report will highlight EFSA's role and link its findings to the way chemicals in food are sometimes portrayed by media. At the request of the Commission the report gives a targeted snapshot of EFSA's data collection activities on the occurrence of chemicals in food during a defined period, rather than a full overview of the Authority's work in this area. EFSA's annual report on pesticide residues in food and its report on veterinary drug residues in animals and foods will feature in each Chemicals in Food report. Summaries of ad hoc reports on occurrence levels of certain chemical contaminants sometimes found in foods will supplement these core topics. This first issue contains an overview of EFSA's most recent data collection work from 2014-2015: two annual reports (pesticide residues and veterinary drug residues) as well as two ad hoc reports published during this period: on arsenic in food and drinking water, and on ethyl carbamate in spirit drinks.