Risk assessment of chlorinated paraffins in feed and food

The Panel wishes to thank the hearing expert: Kerstin Krätschmer and EFSA staff member: Kelly Niermans for the support provided to this scientific output. The CONTAM Panel acknowledges all European competent institutions and other stakeholders that provided occurrence data in food and human milk and data on the toxicity of CPs, and supported the data collection for the Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Risks for human health related to the presence of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in honey, tea, herbal infusions and food supplements

The Panel wishes to acknowledge all European competent institutions, Member State bodies and other organisations that provided data for this scientific output. Adopted: 21 June 2017Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Appropriateness to set a group health based guidance value for T2 and HT2 toxin and its modified forms

Acknowledgements: The Panel wishes to thank the members of the Working Group on HBGV for mycotoxins and their modified forms: Jan Alexander, Chiara Dall'Asta, Arno Gutleb, Manfred Metzler, Isabelle Oswald and Dominique Parent-Massin for the preparatory work on this scientific opinion, and the EFSA staff members: Marco Binaglia and Hans Steinkellner for the support provided to this scientific opinion.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Scientific opinion on the evaluation of substances as acceptable previous cargoes for edible fats and oils

The Panel wishes to thank the members of the Working Group on acceptable previous cargoes for edible fats and oils – Previous cargoes 2016: Bettina Grasl-Kraupp, Konrad Grob, André Penninks and Christiane Vleminckx and EFSA staff members: Marco Binaglia and Ruth Roldán Torres. The Panel acknowledges the European Chemicals Agency that provided data on ammonium sulphate.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Appropriateness to set a group health based guidance value for nivalenol and its modified forms

The Panel wishes to thank the members of the Working Group on HBGV for mycotoxins and their modified forms: Jan Alexander, Chiara Dall'Asta, Arno Gutleb, Manfred Metzler, Isabelle P Oswald and Dominique Parent‐Massin for the preparatory work on this scientific output, and the EFSA staff members: Marco Binaglia and Hans Steinkellner for the support provided to this scientific output. Adopted: 15 March 2017Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Risk assessment of glycoalkaloids in feed and food, in particular in potatoes and potato-derived products

Acknowledgements: The Panel wishes to thank the following for the support provided to this scientific output: Kelly Niermans. The Panel wishes to acknowledge all European competent institutions, Member State bodies and other organisations that provided consumption and occurrence data for this scientific output.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Risk for animal and human health related to the presence of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in feed and food

EFSA wishes to thank the Working Group members: Manolis Kogevinas (until 14 September 2016), George Loizou (until 23 January 2017), and the hearing experts: Matteo Bonzini, Jane Burns, Claude Emond, Aleksander Giwercman, Russ Hauser, Lidia Mínguez‐Alarcón and Paolo Mocarelli, for the support provided to this scientific output. The CONTAM Panel acknowledges all European competent institutions and other stakeholders that provided occurrence data on PCDD/Fs and DL‐PCBs in food and feed, and supported the data collection for the Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Assessment of the Conclusions of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Tropane Alkaloids

Abstract The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was requested to assess the differences in the outcome of the risk assessment of tropane alkaloids (TAs) in food between the CONTAM Panel and the Joint FAO/WHO meeting (FAO/WHO) and to conclude if an update of the EFSA opinion on tropane alkaloids in food and feed would be appropriate. TAs are secondary metabolites occurring in several plants. The main TAs considered in the assessments of EFSA and FAO/WHO were (‐)‐hyoscyamine and (‐)‐scopolamine, which exert their pharmacological and toxicological effects by acting as competitive antagonists of the muscarinic acetylcholine receptors. Both EFSA and FAO/WHO considered a study in human volunteers as the key study to assess the effects of TAs. The CONTAM Panel established a group acute reference dose (ARfD) of 0.016 μg/kg body weight (bw) for the sum of (‐)‐hyoscyamine and (‐)‐scopolamine, based on decreased heart rate. FAO/WHO concluded that it was not possible to establish an ARfD and instead selected a point of departure of 1.54 μg/kg bw for the sum of the two substances, based on decreased salivary secretion, and applied it in a margin of exposure approach. A detailed assessment of the differences in the two approaches is provided in the report. Overall, it is not straightforward to compare quantitatively the differences emerging from the assessments of the CONTAM Panel and the FAO/WHO, in view of the different approaches applied and the different scopes of the assessments. Given the existing uncertainties, the ARfD established by the CONTAM Panel should be retained without modifications as protective towards the general population including susceptible subgroups. In conclusion, based on the comparison with the FAO/WHO assessment, an update of the CONTAM Panel assessment on the risks to human health related to the presence of tropane alkaloids in food is not considered necessary

Combined hazard assessment of mycotoxins and their modified forms applying relative potency factors: Zearalenone and T2/HT2 toxin

International audienceThis paper describes a methodology for hazard assessment of groups of related substances for which toxicity data are insufficient, and which utilises, next to conventional toxicological assessments and mechanistic information, the derivation of relative toxicity potency factors (RPFs). Zearalenone (ZEN) and T-2 toxin (T2) and HT-2 toxin (HT2) and their modified forms have been used as examples. A tolerable daily intake (TDI) for ZEN of 0.25 μg/kg bw was established. In vitro and in vivo studies suggested that modified forms of ZEN act via the same mode of action as ZEN (oestrogenicity). Results from in vivo uterotrophic assays were used to establish RPFs, allowing inclusion the different modified forms in a group TDI with ZEN. A TDI for the sum of T2/HT2 of 0.02 μg/kg bw per day and an acute reference dose (ARfD) of 0.3 μg/kg bw for the sum of T2/HT2 was established. In vitro studies show that phase I metabolites of T2/HT2 act via a similar mode of action as their parent compounds, namely protein synthesis inhibition with immune- and haematotoxicity. The phase I metabolites as well as conjugates of T2/HT2 and their phase I metabolites can be included in a group TDI with T2/HT2 applying RPFs

The NEFOCAST project: A nowcasting weather platform based on dual-frequency interactive satellite terminals

In this paper, we present a research project named NEFOCAST, that targets a very-short-term forecasting platform with high accuracy and small-scale spatial resolution. The innovative solution lies in adopting a new generation of interactive satellite terminals, called SmartLNB, that serves both as a weather sensor and the transceiver for the forecasting platform. Throughout the paper, we highlight the main features of the system, including the advantages compared to state-of-the-art solutions, the expected results, and the market perspectives