22.03.2019 - Lebensmittel

Evaluation of residues and contaminants in processed foods

In October last year, the BfR (Federal Institute for Risk Assessment) organised a workshop on the subject of "Peeling, cooking, brewing - do the contents of residues and undesirable substances change during food processing?" and published a report on this subject on its homepage.

Before harvesting, during further processing or during preparation in the household, residues or undesirable contaminants can get into foodstuffs. For example, when rapeseed is processed into rapeseed oil, fat-soluble pesticides can accumulate in the oil.

In order to better assess the health risk to humans, the levels of residues or contaminants in the ready-to-eat food can be determined directly. Another possibility is to use processing factors to deduce from the contents determined in processed products the contents in the raw products and vice versa.

Both the BfR and the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) maintain data collections on processing factors for plant protection active substances. One of the topics discussed at the workshop was how to standardize and merge the data.

In our Tentamus laboratories we regularly carry out chemical tests. We provide you with fast and reliable results.
Our customer advisors will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Source: Federal Institute for Risk Assessment - http://www.bfr.bund.de