Emerging Food Contaminants

1. Emerging Food Contaminants John Gilbert CSL Science Director (j.gilbert@csl.gov.uk) York (UK) DIFSC - Dubai February 25th 2009

2. Outline of Talk Background General approach to anticipating emerging risks Recent contaminants e.g. PFOS Emerging contaminants EU projects focussing on emerging risks Conclusions

3. Recent Food Scares Economic drivers • prions (BSE – mad cow) in beef • dioxins in animal feed (2008 Ireland) Deliberate adulteration • melamine in pet food and baby food • sudan dye in spices

4. Recent food scares Technology changes • E-coli (0157) in spinach salad (USA) Failure to observe regulations • nitrofurans in shrimps • chloramphenicol in honey Improved analytical techniques • acrylamide and furan in cooked foods • 2- isopropyl thioxanthone (ITX) in food packaging • Bisphenol-A-diglycidyl-ether (BADGE) in can coatings

5. Rapid Alert System of Food & Feed (RASFF) Taken from EFSA-(RASFF)

6. Rapid alerts for foodstuffs imported into EU and failing food safety checks (1990-2005) Asia 1590 Europe 981 Latin America 237 Africa 226 Northern America 85 Oceania 31

7. General approach to anticipating emerging risks The changing world Changing global production and trading Climate change Human contributions Environment Deliberate adulteration (economic fraud) National priorities Research programmes New technologies in food and agriculture Alert systems & emerging risk projects

8. Environmental Contaminants • PCDDs (75), PCDFs (135) and PCBs (209) • Polybrominated flame retardants • PAHs Challenges - scientific • ppt sensitivity • congener specificity (TEQs) Challenges – business drivers • reduce cost – automated clean-up • increase throughput – CALUX screen (receptor assay)

9. EFSA Opinion on PFOS & PFOA The EFSA Journal (2008) 653, 1-131 Perflurooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and salts Scientific Opinion of the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain  (Question no EFSA-Q-2004-163) Adopted on 21 February 2008

10. PFOS, PFOA and their salts Chemical types Neutral and anionic surface-active fluorinated compounds with high thermal, chemical and biological inertness includes PFOS and PFOA. Properties Hydrophobic and lipophobic so do not accumulate in fatty tissue. Applications Fabric and carpet coatings, coatings for paper products, fire-fighting foams, mining and oil well surfactants, floor polishes, insecticide formulations.

11. Levels of N-ethyl perfluoroctane sulphonamide in fast foods (Tittlemier et al., 2003)

12. Estimates of exposure to PFOS (ng/person/day) (EFSA 2008) *ng/kg bw per day (60 kg bw) TDI = 150 ng/kg bw per day

13. Emerging contaminants • veterinary medicines • human pharmaceuticals • personal care products • nanoparticles • other POPs • non-synthetics • transformation products

14. The Concern • Detection of environmental contaminants in water, soil and biota • Environmental behaviour may be different from ‘traditional’ substances (properties, entry into the environment) • Biologically active molecules and potential subtle impacts • Little known about the impacts • Some contaminants may move from low risk to high risk due to e.g. land-use changes, influence of change in climate. Boxall (2204) EMBO Reports; Boxall et al, (2004 and 2003) Environ. Sci Technol.

15. The Challenges • Large and diverse group of chemicals • New Analytical methods required • Behaviour different from ‘traditional’ contaminants • Subtle effects • Limited data availability • Need to assess effects of land-use change, climate change etc.

16. Prioritising emerging contaminants • 1000’s of environmental contaminants in the environment • Development of risk-based priority setting schemes • Consideration of human and environmental impacts • Application to veterinary medicines, pharmaceuticals and transformation products

17. US Geological Survey Monitoring • 51 Midwestern stream sites • DA: 230 to 26,936 km2 • 3 runoff samples per site - Late spring (May - June) - Summer (June - July) - Harvest (Sept - Nov) • Analysed for 21 herbicides, 27 degradates, 36 antibiotics • Most sites sampled inprevious studies

18. Surface Water

19. Algal toxins Antifoaming agents Antioxidants Antifouling compounds Bio-terrorism/sabotage agents Detergents Disinfection by-products (drinking water) Flame retardants Pharmaceuticals Anticorrosives Fragrances Gasoline additives Industrial chemicals Nanoparticles Perfluoroalkylated substances Personal care products Pesticides Plasticizers Biocides Trace metals Wood preservatives NORMAN Project http://www.norman-network.net NORMAN project Network of reference laboratories for monitoring emerging environmental pollutants 6th Framework Programme, Priority 6.3 – Global Change and Ecosystems EMERGING SUBSTANCES – MOST FREQUENTLY DISCUSSED

20. Potential impacts on risks of chemicals and pathogens from agriculture • Temperatures will increase, winters will be wetter, summers drier and there will be an increase in intense rain events • Changes are likely to affect the prevalence of disease and the usage of chemicals • Changes in soil characteristics and hydrology • Climatic changes likely to affect fate and transport of pathogens and chemicals • Risks could be very different from today

21. parent compound 1. Step Compiling a list of possible transformation products with computational prediction Transformation product 1 Transformation product 2 Transformation product 3 List of target compounds Linking to new analytical methods 2. Step Identification of relevant transformation products by high resolution mass spectrometry Intensity m/z List of relevant transformation products

22. Milestone in Emerging Risks

23. EFSA Emerging Risks Unit (EMRISK) EMRISK unit is responsible for establishing procedures to systematically collect up-to-date information and data in order to identify and analyse emerging risks in the field of food and feed safety. This includes: • Defining priority indicators for the identification of emerging risks • Developing procedures for collecting and evaluating data to identify emerging risks • Identifying key sources and best practices in Member States and internationally to collect and update relevant data.

24. EMRISK approach scheme WG 2 (chair N. Tomlinson) Search engines Influential sector Indicative question Indicator Information sources Scientific experts WG 1 (chair H. Noteborn) Signal Proactive Alert Action 24

25. FSA work on emerging risks • Working with Canadian Public Health Agency and EFSA to develop a global food safety alert system • Play active role in EFSA Scientific Cooperation Group on Emerging Risks and WHO INFOSAN • Through ‘Safefoodera’ (FP6 ERA NET project) set up research platform on emerging risks • Horizon Scanning by Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition • Use of Sigma Scan (www.sigmascan.org), Delta Scan (www.deltascan.org) and Government Horizon scanning (www.sciencehorizons.org.uk)

26. EU FP6 project Go-Global www.goglobalnetwork.eu Global Platform on Emerging Risks in the Food and Feed To create a sustainable global platform - sharing results, stimulating dissemination, setting research agenda on emerging food safety risks. To develop a global implementation and harmonisation strategy for evaluation of research and related activities. To identify shortcomings in current food safety systems regarding the identification of emerging risks. To develop a strategic research agenda, and initiate joint research activities. To stimulate global exchange of information and dissemination of emerging food safety issues.

27. Conclusions • We only have knowledge of potential exposure to a small proportion chemical contaminants in food. • A range of drivers could increase/change exposure in the future. • ‘New’ contaminants are increasingly being found albeit at low levels. • Toxicology continues to struggle to make a risk assessment of low-level exposure.