EU safety watchdog launches public consultation on toxic food contaminants PBDE amid health concerns

15 Jun 2023 --- The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is collecting feedback on its draft scientific opinion on polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). It concludes that these contaminants, mainly found in food of animal origin, may harm the reproductive and nervous systems. 

PBDEs are brominated flame retardants (BFRs) used in products such as plastics, textiles and electronic equipment to make them less flammable. They can leach into air, water and soil, contaminating food and feed. In a 2011 assessment, EFSA identified health concerns for young people only. 

“Several PBDE congeners for which toxicity data were identified affected the reproductive systems of male and female adult rats and mice,” an EFSA spokesperson tells Food Ingredients First.

“For example, exposure to BDE-47 decreased sperm production and motility in male rodents and decreased ovarian weight and alteration of folliculogenesis in female rats.” 

“Regarding effects on the nervous system, studies have shown that the congeners under study for which data has been identified can induce long-term behavioral impairments related to, for example, locomotor activity and spatial learning and memory.” 

EFSA invites interested stakeholders to send comments on the draft scientific opinion by July 20, 2023. 

Measures to reduce consumer exposure 
The Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) found additional health risks for PBDEs in its risk assessment, for example, on the immune system and energy metabolism, and concluded that repeated exposure results in accumulating these chemicals in the body. 

Meat products, fish and seafood were found as the most important contributors to PBDE exposure.“Once the public consultation of the draft Opinion on PBDEs in food will close, the CONTAM Panel will reply to the comments received, introduce the necessary modification to the draft assessment and finalize the Opinion,” says an EFSA spokesperson. 

“European and national decision-makers will use EFSA’s scientific advice and other considerations to weigh possible measures to reduce consumer exposure to PBDEs in food. These may include, for example, setting maximum levels in food, and advice or specific campaigns to consumers on eating habits.” 

The European Chemicals Agency also recently released a Regulatory Strategy for Flame Retardants, which suggests the use of aromatic brominated flame retardants should be minimized. 

The report notes, “Viewing the challenges to control the release of individual substances and the general availability of alternatives, a wide and generic restriction seems to be the most appropriate regulatory approach.” 

Meat, fish and seafood most at risk
The CONTAM Panel recommends monitoring PBDEs in food should continue. However, there is a need for more data on PBDEs in infant formula and how these substances transfer from a mother to her infant during pregnancy and lactation. 

The panel identified benchmark doses for four out of the ten most frequently detected PBDE congeners through scientific studies. The panel concluded there is a scientific basis for including all ten congeners in a combined risk assessment. 

Based on over 84,000 analytical results for the congeners in food in 10,879 samples, the panel found that meat products, fish and seafood were the most important contributors to the exposure to PBDE. 

This is EFSA’s second scientific opinion on risks posed by BFRs. The organization published an opinion in 2021 that updated the risk assessment of hexabromocyclododecanes in food.

The CONTAM Panel has started to develop an opinion to update the previous risk assessment on tetrabromobisphenol A and its derivatives in food. It will also update a prior opinion on brominated phenols and their derivatives and emerging and Novel BFRs. 

“A last Opinion will consider the possibility to perform a mixture assessment of the BFR families that have been individually assessed,” says EFSA. 

European and national decision-makers will use EFSA’s scientific advice to reduce consumer exposure to PBDEs in food. EFSA recently also assessed the risk of exposure to nitrosamines through food during its preparation and processing, finding they may damage DNA. 

Occurrence of PBDE in feed 
A recent study published in Environmental Research suggests that international legislation to reduce PBDE environmental levels has been effective. The Polish-based researchers found a 63% decrease in contamination of ten PBDE congeners in fishmeal between 2017 and 2021.

At the same time, the authors concluded that 73% of the 207 assessed feed samples were polluted with at least one PBDE congener. All investigated fish oil, animal fat and fish meal were contaminated.

Fish oils contained the highest concentration of PBDE. The researchers detected eight congeners in all fish oil samples. Mineral feed additives and plant materials, excluding vegetable oil and compound feed, showed the lowest contamination levels. Only 20% of plant-origin feed samples were contaminated. 

The researchers assessed the quality of feed samples collected by the Polish General Veterinary Inspectorate as part of the country’s national official feed quality control plan. 

Reviewed data 
The current draft opinion considers new evidence that has become available since EFSA’s last PBDE risk assessment in 2011. 

“EFSA published its series of risk assessments on different classes of BFRs between 2010-2012. EFSA recommended, for a number of those classes, that further data on levels in food and humans should be gathered,” says the organization.

“Based on this, in 2014, the European Commission published Commission Recommendation 2014/118/EU on the monitoring of traces of brominated flame retardants in food.” 

“In 2018, the European Commission requested EFSA to update its previous risk assessment taking into consideration the new occurrence data in food generated from following this Commission Recommendation and any new toxicity data published since the previous Opinion,” notes EFSA. 

By Jolanda van Hal