Update of results on the monitoring of furan levels in food 1

Transcription

1 SCIENTIFIC REPORT OF EFSA Update of results on the monitoring of furan levels in food 1 European Food Safety Authority 2, 3 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), Parma, Italy This report published on 15 November 2010 replaces the earlier version published on 3 August ABSTRACT Furan is formed in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods and contributes to the sensory properties of the product. Furan has been shown to be carcinogenic in animal experiments. The European Commission requested that Member States collect data on furan concentrations in heat-treated commercial food products to allow a better estimate of dietary exposure. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) summarised the initial findings from the data collection in a 2009 report. The current report brings additional data to the compilation, now covering 4,186 analytical results for furan content in foods sampled between 2004 and 2009 by 18 countries. The highest furan levels were found in solid coffee with mean values varying between 569 µg/kg for instant coffee and 3,611 µg/kg for roasted coffee beans with the highest maximum of 6,900 µg/kg found in roasted ground coffee. In the non-coffee categories mean values ranged between 3.2 µg/kg for infant formula and 40 µg/kg for certain baby food categories. The highest maximum concentrations for the non-coffee categories were found in baby food with 224 µg/kg and soups with 225 µg/kg. Maximum values exceeding a level of 100 µg/kg were found in cereal products like puffed rise, in fish products such as mackerels and sardines in tomato sauce, in meat products like canned duck with lentils or rabbit with prunes, in soups such as tomato soup and in gravy. Milk based processed food showed low mean furan content. It can be concluded that furan is present in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods for adults and infants. Future testing of furan by Member States should preferably target food products where limited results are available and comprise, if possible, the sample analysed as purchased followed by the same sample analysed as consumed indicating the exact cooking preparation with time, temperature and handling information. KEY WORDS Furan, coffee, baby food, jarred food 1 On request from the European Commission, Question No EFSA-Q , issued on 22 July Correspondence: datex@efsa.europa.eu 3 Acknowledgement: EFSA wishes to thank the EFSA staff member Caroline Merten for the support provided to this EFSA scientific output. Special thanks to Peter Fürst, Thomas Wenzl and EFSA staff member Stefan Fabiansson for their valuable comments. 4 After publication of the report EFSA realised that one Member State had made a mistake in classifying some sample results as analysed as consumed instead of analysed as purchased. This mistake had a particular impact on the summary statistics of the food group `coffee ready-to-drink` and has been corrected. Suggested citation: European Food Safety Authority; Update of results on the monitoring of furan levels in food. EFSA Journal 2010; 8(7):1702. [18 pp.]. doi: /j.efsa Available online: European Food Safety Authority,

2 SUMMARY Furan formed during heat treatment of food and contributing to the sensory properties of the product has been shown to be carcinogenic in animal experiments. In order to monitor the presence of furan in food, the Commission Recommendation 2007/196/EC 5 requests the Member States to collect data on heat-treated commercial food products, particularly during 2007 and 2008 and subsequently on a routine basis, to allow a better estimate of dietary exposure. A first report on the results of the monitoring on furan levels was published in 2009 (EFSA, 2009). The current report update includes all data sampled and analysed between 2004 and In response to the Commission request, a total of eighteen Member States have so far submitted analytical results for furan content in food to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A total of 4,186 complete results were reported for foods sampled between 2004 and Data were sorted into 21 different food categories (5 coffee and 16 non coffee categories) in accordance with previously reported results in literature. In the current report, two main categories out of these 21 categories were further subcategorised. The baby food category was subcategorised into 6 groups according to the ingredient combination and the category others was subcategorised into more homogenous subgroups in order to extract further information. The five coffee categories showed the highest furan content in comparison to the other food groups, with mean values equal to 40 µg/kg for coffee ready-to-drink, 569 µg/kg for coffee instant, 1,786 µg/kg for coffee roasted ground, 1,850 µg/kg for coffee non specified and 3,611 for coffee roasted bean. The maximum value was found in coffee roasted ground with 6,900 µg/kg. In the non-coffee categories mean values ranged between 3.2 µg/kg for infant formula and 40 µg/kg for certain baby food categories. The highest maximum concentrations for the non-coffee categories were found in baby food with 224 µg/kg and soups with 225 µg/kg. Only 7% of results were reported as samples analysed as consumed. In the particular case of coffee furan results were compared between samples analysed in raw coffee and samples analysed in coffee beverage. In all coffee subcategories the upper bound mean furan content was lower in the beverage coffee samples than in the raw coffee samples. There is obviously a dilution effect in preparing the coffee, however, little detail was provided on the brew recipes and no information was provided on the type of preparation. Jarred baby food and infant formulae are of particular interest as they may form the sole diet for many infants and furan has been found in such commercial products. In the present survey, the mean furan content in infant formulae was 3.2 µg/kg. The mean furan content in the different baby food categories ranged from 5 µg/kg for baby food containing only fruits to 40 µg/kg for baby food containing either meat and vegetables or vegetables only. Maximum values exceeding a level of 100 µg/kg were found in cereal products like puffed rise, in fish products like mackerels and sardines in tomato sauce, in meat products like canned duck with lentils or rabbit with prunes, in soups like tomato soup and in gravy. Milk based processed food showed low mean furan content (6 µg/kg), but interestingly a maximum furan content of 80 µg/kg was found in sweetened condensed milk. It can be concluded that furan is present in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods for adults and infants. Future testing of furan by Member States should preferably target food products where limited results are available and comprise, if possible, the sample analysed as purchased followed by the same sample analysed as consumed indicating the exact food preparation method used. 5 Commission Recommendation 2007/196/EC of 28 March 2007 on the monitoring of the presence of furan in food stuffs, OJ L 88, , p

3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Summary... 2 Background... 4 Terms of reference... 4 Report Introduction Materials and Methods Sampling procedure Analytical method Data handling Results Data reported by Member States Reported LOD and LOQ Reported measurement uncertainty Statistical descriptors of the reported furan content Discussion Coffee Infant food Other food Conclusions and recommendations References

4 BACKGROUND At the end of 2004, a group of scientific experts of the Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as an urgent self-tasking activity established a Working Group to investigate further the presence of furan in heat-treated foodstuffs. In December 2004 the "Report of the Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain on provisional findings on furan in food" was adopted by the CONTAM Panel (EFSA, 2004). Subsequently, a joint workshop on furan in food was organised in May 2006 by DG Health and Consumers, EFSA and the European Commission Joint Research Centre in order to gather information on the status of analytical methods for furan and on data needs for risk assessment. In order to collect more occurrence data for a furan risk assessment, EFSA issued a call for scientific data in December 2006 (EFSA, 2006). In parallel, the European Commission, via Recommendation 2007/196/EC 6 on the monitoring of the presence of furan in foodstuffs, recommended Member States to collect data on commercial foodstuffs that underwent heat treatment, with particular focus on year 2007 and TERMS OF REFERENCE In order to give the Commission an overview of the data collected by the Member States with a particular focus on 2007 and 2008, EFSA was asked by the European Commission on 13 May 2009 to compile these data in an occurrence report. Reporting on furan results by the Member States will continue on a regular basis and EFSA is asked to issue an updated report on a yearly basis. This is the second report including data submitted up to the end of Commission Recommendation 2007/196/EC of 28 March 2007 on the monitoring of the presence of furan in food stuffs, OJ L 88, , p

5 REPORT 1. Introduction Furan is a colourless chemical (C 4 H 4 O) with low molecular weight and high volatility and lipophilicity. Furan and its derivatives have long been known to occur in heat-treated foods and to contribute to the sensory properties of food (Maga, 1979; Merrit et al., 1963). Animal studies have shown that furan is carcinogenic to rats and mice, showing a dose-dependant increase in hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas in both genders (NTP, 1993). Furan has been classified as possibly carcinogenic for humans (IARC, 1995). In the latest risk assessment on furan carried out by the joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in February 2010 (FAO/WHO, 2010) it was concluded that the margin of furan exposure indicates a human health concern for a carcinogenic compound that might act via a DNA-reactive genotoxic metabolite. In 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) published a report on the occurrence of furan in thermally treated food commodities (US FDA, 2004). It revealed the occurrence of furan in a number of foods that undergo heat treatment such as canned and jarred foods with levels ranging from non detectable to 174 µg/kg. Shortly after the publication of the US FDA results, the mechanism of furan formation, which is believed to follow several pathways, was the object of increasing interest. Still, there is only limited information on the mechanism of furan formation under conditions simulating industrial food processing or domestic cooking. Most published data are based on model studies aiming at identifying potential precursors and elucidating the various formation mechanisms. The formation of furan during thermal treatment has been studied in simple model systems revealing a list of major precursors, such as amino acids and reducing sugars forming Maillard reaction products, lipid oxidation of unsaturated fatty acids or triglycerides, carotenoids and ascorbic acid (Limacher et al., 2007; Perez and Yayalayan, 2004; Yayalayan, 2006). In their study on the formation of furan under roasting conditions, Maerk et al. (2006) found ascorbic acid and polyunsaturated lipids (such as linoleic and linolenic acid) as the most effective precursors. Furthermore, Limacher et al. (2007) proposed that the efficiency of the ascorbic acid derivatives to form furan depended very much on the reaction system involved. Interestingly, the highest furan levels were obtained in pure ascorbic acid systems. The furan amounts dropped drastically in the presence of additional compounds, such as sugars, amino acids and lipids. Moreover, Maerk et al. (2006) found that combinations of potential furan precursors lead to reduced furan formation. Owzarek-Fendor et al. (2010) studied the formation of furan from vitamin C during thermal treatment of a starch-based model system, which simulated baby food. Interestingly, waxy corn starch itself considerably enhanced furan generation from ascorbic acid. For the initial CONTAM Panel report issued in December 2004 on provisional findings on furan in food, only limited furan occurrence results were available for a narrow set of foods. Thus, ranges of furan exposure rather than average exposures were presented. The report issued by the CONTAM Panel highlighted the limitation of exposure assessment calculations due to the limited availability of furan occurrence data at that time. In addition, the Panel envisaged the need for future analyses and collection of occurrence data on furan in a wider spectrum of food commodities including beverages (EFSA, 2004; Heppner and Schlatter, 2007). A call for scientific data on furan in food and beverages was issued in December 2006 (EFSA, 2006) in conjunction with a Commission Recommendation published in March 2007 on the monitoring of the presence of furan in foodstuffs. Member States were requested to collect furan data during 2007 and 2008 for commercial food products after initial heat treatment during manufacturing and after further heating during domestic food preparation. After that, data collection was to continue on a regular basis (European Commission Recommendation 2007/196/EC). A first report on the results of the monitoring of furan levels was published in 2009 (EFSA, 2009). The current report provides an update to include all data sampled and analysed between 2004 and

6 2. Materials and Methods 2.1. Sampling procedure Recommendation 2007/196/EC requires Member States to monitor the presence of furan in foodstuffs that have undergone heat treatment. The monitoring should include two different kinds of commercial foodstuffs. First, Member States were asked to sample commercial food, which were to be analysed without any further preparation of the purchased foodstuff, e.g. coffee powder, juices, jars and cans. Second, Member States were asked to analyse commercial foodstuffs after further preparation for consumption, e.g. brewing of coffee or heating of canned and jarred products. Foods prepared at home on the basis of fresh ingredients were not subject of the monitoring program. It was recommended to follow the sampling procedures as laid down in Part B of the Annex to Regulation (EC) No. 333/2007 in order to ensure that samples were representative for the sampled lot. Sample preparation before analysis should be carried out with the necessary care to ensure that the furan content of the sample is not altered Analytical method The monitoring recommendation lay down that the analysis of samples should be carried out in accordance with points 1 and 2 of the Annex III to Regulation (EC) No. 882/ A guidance document setting criteria for the required accuracy and sensitivity of the analytical methods used for furan analysis and published in conjunction with the EFSA call for furan data was agreed with the European Commission Expert Group on Environmental and Industrial Contaminants before commencing the monitoring exercise. Analytical methods used included static headspace extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS) and head space/solid phase micro extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS). There are no indications in the Commission Recommendation on a specific analytical procedure to be used. The Member States which submitted occurrence data also provided the information for the limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ) and the measurement uncertainty for each commodity tested Data handling A total of 4,228 furan results were reported to EFSA of which 4,186 contained sufficient details to be retained for statistical analysis. In the first report (EFSA 2009) the collected data were classified into 21 different food categories in accordance with previously reported results (Crews and Castle, 2007; EFSA, 2004; Kuballa, 2007; Morehouse et al., 2008; Zoller et al., 2007). In the current report, two main categories out of these 21 categories were subcategorised further. The baby food category was subcategorised into 6 groups according to the ingredient combination and the category others was subcategorised into more homogenous subgroups in order to extract further information. All furan data were checked against the quality criteria and those fulfilling these criteria were included in the monitoring exercise. Of the reported data, 824 results showed particularly high LOD and LOQ (above 2 and 5 µg/kg respectively). When comparing summary statistics of the dataset including or excluding the 824 data, no major difference could be observed and therefore the decision to keep all data in the database was taken. 7 Regulation (EC) No. 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules. OJ L 191, , p. 1. 6

7 The Commission Recommendation requires Member States to sample food items with a particular focus on years 2007 and However, EFSA received data covering the period 2004 to After checking that results collected before 2007 met the quality criteria for the analysis method, it was decided to retain data from the full set to include all data collected after publication of the EFSA opinion in Two scenarios were assumed for handling non-quantified results. First, according to a lower-bound scenario, values below the LOD and values between the LOD and the LOQ were set to zero. Second, according to an upper-bound scenario values below LOD and values between LOD and LOQ were set to the LOD or the LOQ value, respectively. Both lower bound and upper bound scenarios were used. In the Commission Recommendation Member States were requested to collect furan data on samples analysed as purchased and analysed after further preparation for consumption. However, only 8% of the data were reported as analysed after further preparation. In the particular case of coffee a table was prepared to show the differences between results for raw coffee samples and coffee beverages. Dietary exposure to furan was not assessed for this report. An accurate exposure assessment based on more detailed food consumption data will be presented in the 2011 annual report. Detailed food consumption data will be available on publication by the end of 2010 of the EFSA Comprehensive Database, a new database containing information from 20 individual EU Member States. 3. Results 3.1. Data reported by Member States Table 1 summarises the country of origin of 4186 samples reported to EFSA for the years 2004 to 2009 sorted into 21 food categories. It can be observed from Table 1 that Germany provided 45% of the reported results followed by Belgium and Ireland (17 and 10 %, respectively). The other 15 remaining countries together accounted for 28% of the data. The number of samples per food category varied between 11 for infant formula and 1322 for baby food. Table 1 shows that the number of samples per food category was not evenly distributed across the different Member States. For the following food categories at least 10 Member States out of the 18 had submitted samples: coffee roasted ground, baby food, vegetables, fruits, fruit juice, soups, sauces and baked beans. 7

8 Table 1: Number of samples collected by Member States (indicated by ISO country code) between 2004 and 2009 for the analysis of furan content in food. Food group AT BE CY DE DK ES FI GB GR HU IE IT LT NL NO PL SK SI Total Coffee instant Coffee roasted bean Coffee roasted ground Coffee not specified Coffee ready-to-drink Baby food Infant formula Vegetables Fruits Vegetable juices Fruit juices Fish Cereal products Meat products Milk products Beer Soy sauces Soups Sauces Baked beans Other products Total Coffee results reported for solid coffee 8

9 Although the Commission Recommendation requested Member States to perform sampling and analyses with a focus on 2007 and 2008, EFSA received data also from previous years, as detailed in Table 2. Data from 2007 and 2008 represent 42% of the whole EFSA dataset and because of the sparse results it was decided to keep the full dataset covering the years 2004 to 2009 since testing showed that this had no major impact on the overall results. Table 2: Number of samples per year. Sampling Sampling Number of samples year year Number of samples Total Total number Only 7 % of the results in the EFSA database were obtained after preparation of the sample as consumed before the analysis. In addition, detailed information on the method used to prepare the food for consumption was not consistently reported such as cooking temperature and time or dilution used. The vast majority of results (93%) were reported for food as purchased without any further food preparation before analysis Reported LOD and LOQ Thirteen countries reported the use of static headspace extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS) method for the analysis of furan. Two countries reported using a head space-solid phase micro extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) method. One country did not report on the method used for most of its results while two further countries provided no information at all for the method used. In Table 3 the number of samples below the limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) are reported, as well as the minimum and maximum values for the LOD and the LOQ for each food category. It can be observed in Table 3 that the minimum and maximum values reported for LOD and LOQ ranged from 0.03 to 40 µg/kg and from 0.04 to 100 µg/kg, respectively. The highest LOD and LOQ were reported for coffee and cereal products. To better illustrate the percentages of numerical values above the LOQ and censored values below the LOD or between the LOD and the LOQ, the respective frequencies shown in Table 3 have been plotted in Figure 1. 9

10 Table 3: Number of samples (n) reported for the respective measurement limit and range of the reported LOD and LOQ in µg/kg per food category. Food group LOD LOQ >LOQ n Minimum Maximum n Minimum Maximum n Coffee instant Coffee roasted bean Coffee roasted ground Coffee not specified Coffee ready-to-drink Baby food Infant formula Vegetables Fruits Vegetable juices Fruit juices Fish Cereal products Meat products Milk products Beer Soy sauces Soups Sauces Baked beans Other products Coffee instant Coffee roasted ground Coffee ready-to-drink Baby food fruits only Baby food vegetables only Baby food unclassified Beer Cocoa Fruit based processed food Infant formula Milk based processed food Snacks and crisps Soja products Soy sauce Tea Vegetable fats Wine and liquors LOD LOQ >LOQ 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Figure 1: Percentage of values below LOD, between LOD and LOQ, and above the LOQ per food category for the pooled data from all Member States. 10

11 More than 80% of the results reported for four coffee categories and the product categories coffee ready-to-drink, baby food, soy sauce, and soups were above the LOQ, while the respective percentage for groups baked beans, fish, other products was lower ranging from 60% to 80%. The furan content of samples in food categories infant formula, fruit juice, fruits, vegetables and vegetable juice were mostly below the LOQ 3.3. Reported measurement uncertainty Guidance on the calculation of measurement uncertainty is given in a report prepared by the Commission in 2004 (EC, 2004). The measurement uncertainty for the HS-GC-MS method is shown for each food category in Table 4. Table 4: Minimum and maximum values for the relative measurement uncertainty (MU) in percentage per food category as reported by the Member States for the applied HS-GC-MS method. Food group Min Max Min Max Food group MU% MU% MU% MU% Coffee instant Fish Coffee roasted bean Cereal products Coffee roasted ground Meat products Coffee not specified Milk products.*.* Coffee ready-to-drink Beer Baby food Soy sauces Infant formula Soups Vegetables Sauces Fruits Baked beans Vegetable juices Other products Fruit juices * No information on MU was reported The reported measurement uncertainty varied between 6 and 44% Statistical descriptors of the reported furan content In Table 5, the 5 th percentile (P05), the lower and upper quartiles, the median and the arithmetic mean, the 95 th percentile (P95) and the maximum values are presented for each of the 20 food categories for the collected furan data. A range is provided when there was a difference between the estimated lower and upper bound furan content values as calculated from the data reported by the Member States. 11

12 Table 5: Furan content in food per main food category Update of the monitoring of furan levels in food Product category Furan content µg/kg N P05 P25 Median Mean P75 P95 Max Coffee instant Coffee, roasted bean Coffee, roasted ground Coffee, not specified Coffee ready-to-drink Baby food Infant formula Baked beans Beer Cereal product Fish Fruit juice Fruits Meat products Milk products Sauces Soups Soy sauce Vegetable juice Vegetables Others Coffee results reported for solid coffee The five coffee categories show the highest furan content in comparison to the other food groups, with mean upper bound values equal to 40 µg/kg for coffee ready-to-drink, 569 µg/kg for coffee instant, 1,786 µg/kg for coffee roasted ground, 1,850 µg/kg for coffee not specified, and 3,611 µg/kg for coffee roasted bean. The maximum concentration of 6,900 µg/kg was reported for coffee roasted ground. In the non-coffee categories mean upper bound values ranged between 3.2 µg/kg for infant formula and 29 µg/kg in baby food. The highest maximum content for the non-coffee categories was found in baby food with 224 µg/kg and soups with 225 µg/kg. Generally, the difference between descriptive statistics based on lower bound and upper bound scenarios was small, because a low number of samples had furan values below the LOD or between the LOD and LOQ. In order to reflect the influence of ingredients on the furan content in baby food, results are presented in Table 6 subdivided according to six different ingredient combinations. Table 6: Furan content in baby food sub categories Baby food subcategory Furan content µg/kg N P05 P25 Median Mean P75 P95 Max Cereal based Meat and vegetables Vegetables only Fruits and vegetables Fruits only Non classified

13 It is shown in Table 6 that the mean upper bound furan content in the different baby food categories range from 5 µg/kg for baby food containing only fruits to 40 µg/kg for baby food containing either meat and vegetables or vegetables only. In order to further identify furan concentrations in food, it was possible to divide some of the food items in the food group others into the eight homogenous subcategories shown in Table 7. The remaining food items from the category others could not be sub-classified and are mainly ready-toeat meals without any information provided on the ingredients. Table 7: Furan content in eight sub categories out of the main category Others Others food subcategory Furan content µg/kg* N P05 P25 Median Mean P75 P95 Max Cocoa Snacks and crisps Soft drinks Soya products Sweets Tea Vegetable fats Wine and liquors * Please note that there are in most cases too few samples to calculate the detailed percentiles, they are shown here for illustrative purposes only. In Table 7 most of the subcategories show low mean furan content ranging from 1.7 µg/kg for vegetable fats to 10 µg/kg for snacks and crisps and cocoa. The highest maximum value of 40 µg/kg is seen for cocoa. Only 7% of the total dataset were reported as samples analysed as consumed. In the particular case of coffee for which information on furan content in the actual beverage is necessary to calculate exposure results are presented in Table 8 categorised as samples analysed as purchased and as samples analysed as consumed in order to show the differences between results for solid coffee samples and coffee beverages. Table 8: Mean values for furan content in coffee according to samples analysed as purchased and samples analysed as consumed. Coffee sub group Analysed as purchased Analysed as consumed N Mean µg/kg N Mean µg/l Coffee instant Coffee roasted bean Coffee roasted ground Coffee not specified From Table 8 it can be observed that the mean furan content is considerably lower in the beverage coffee samples than in the raw coffee samples. Information on the beverage preparation was provided for some results. Instant coffee beverage was prepared by adding 2 grams of coffee into 250 ml of hot water (8g/L). For the other coffee groups, information provided for the brew preparation varied between 28g/L to 40g/L. 4. Discussion In response to a request from the Commission for more information on the presence of furan in food, EU Member States analysed food products as purchased and/or after further preparation for consumption to allow for a more comprehensive exposure assessment than has been previously 13

14 possible. However, in reviewing the results, it is important to note that 92% of the collected furan results were derived from samples analysed as purchased and that the effect of cooking practices at home is not reflected for the vast majority of the results. Hasnip et al. (2006) concluded that furan levels in retail food samples persisted during the normal heating practices that precede consumption. If extra furan was formed in these foods during preparation, then a concurrent loss by reaction or evaporation also occurred. They demonstrated that furan was formed in foods by heating but did not accumulate to a significant degree on heating in an open vessel. Furan appeared to accumulate particularly in heat-processed canned and jarred foods because they are sealed containers that receive a considerable thermal load. Similar investigations were undertaken by Roberts et al. (2008) who examined the effect of some domestic cooking procedures on the furan content in food. In general, furan levels did not decrease as much when foods were heated in a microwave oven, as compared to the same food heated in a sauce pan. Furan levels decreased in most canned or jarred foods after heating in a saucepan. Furan decreased slightly in foods on standing before consumption and did so more rapidly on stirring. The levels also decreased slightly when foods were left to stand on plates. Kim et al. (2009) investigated the possible effect of cooking and handling conditions and recommended to heat the canned meals up to C for a reduction of furan levels of 26-46%. Results from a project undertaken by the Danish Technical University on behalf of and funded by EFSA (EFSA, 2009) covering research on furan produced in heat processed food products including home cooked products indicate that foods having high level of carbohydrates are most likely to form furan. Home cooked foods prepared by using ingredients with initial content of furan did not lead to higher furan levels during cooking. It is expected that food preparation and handling will have implications for the estimation of dietary exposure and thus has to be taken into account Coffee Among all products tested, the highest furan content was reported in roasted coffee beans with an average of 3,611 µg/kg when including only samples being analysed as purchased. This is at the lower end of the average values reported by Kuballa et al. (2005) for furan in roasted coffee beans. Furan and furan derivatives have long been known as intrinsic components of coffee flavours. Green coffee beans contain only traces of furan. The furan levels in the roasted coffee are correlated with the roast colour. When analysing pilot plant samples that had been roasted to cover qualities from light- to darkroasted and from fast- to long-roasted coffees, Guenther et al.(2010) showed that darker roast colours and longer roast times had a tendency to result in higher levels of furan. The results presented by Guenther et al. (2010) and La Pera et al. (2009) indicate that potential furan formation does not significantly vary for different green coffee types. The furan content was lower in ground coffee with an average of 1,786 µg/kg when including only samples being analysed as purchased. This result is within the range of the results reported previously by Hasnip et al. (2005) and Kuballa et al. (2005). Guenther et al. (2010) showed that grinding of the roasted coffee beans reduced furan levels up to 40% depending on grind size and that degassing reduced furan levels up to 20% in 4 hours. The lowest furan concentrations were found in instant coffee with an average of 569 µg/kg when including only samples being analysed as purchased which is consistent with reported data from Hasnip et al. (2006), Kuballa et al. (2007) and Zoller et al. (2007). As such, the contribution of coffee as consumed to the human dietary exposure to furan has been very difficult to assess from the analysis of data for roasted whole beans or roasted and ground coffee. In order to reliably estimate the daily exposure to furan from coffee it is important to know the levels in the final ready-to-drink beverage, the type of preparation and the brew recipe. Several publications reported substantial reductions (50-90%) of the furan content after brewing according to the espresso 14

15 method, by filtration, and also in the preparation of instant coffee (Hasnip et al., 2006; Kuballa et al., 2005, 2007; La Pera 2009; Zoller et al., 2007). Automatic coffee machines produce brews with higher levels of furan, because a higher ratio of coffee powder to water is often used giving a lower dilution factor and because of the closed system favouring retention of furan. Standard home coffee-making machines produced much lower levels. Furan will also dissipate from the serving cup, with higher losses at the beginning diminishing over time as the coffee cools down (Goldmann et al., 2005; Zoller et al., 2007). A comparison of results submitted by the Member States for raw coffee samples and brew samples showed considerably lower levels in the beverage samples prepared for consumption compared to samples analysed as purchased. However, little detail was provided on the brew recipe and no information was provided on the type of preparation. The mean furan concentrations for beverages prepared from coffee roasted bean, coffee roasted ground (90 and 30 µg/l, respectively) and coffee instant (9 µg/l) are within the range of reported data by Kuballa et al. (2005) and La Pera et al. (2009) Infant food Jarred baby food and infant formulae are of particular interest as they may form the sole diet for many infants and furan has been reported in those products. In the present survey, the mean furan content in infant formulae was 3 µg/kg, which was lower than average results previously reported of 12 µg/kg (Crews and Castle, 2007) but within the range reported by Yoshida et al.(2007). However, the furan content of jarred commercial baby food with an overall mean content of 29 µg/kg and a maximum value of 224 µg/kg was similar to previously reported data (Crews and Castle, 2007). Zoller et al. (2007) reported different mean values for jarred and canned baby food depending on the composition of the food. Baby food samples containing mainly fruits and those containing mainly meat showed both a mean furan content of 4 µg/kg, whereas baby food samples containing mainly vegetables (including potatoes) showed an average furan content of 40 µg/kg. For the current report, the 1322 results submitted for jarred baby food were subcategorised according to the different ingredient composition. Results for mean furan content in baby food containing only fruits (5 µg/kg) and in baby food containing only vegetables (40 µg/kg) are similar to those reported by Kuballa et al. (2007) and Zoller et al. (2007). Bianchi et al. (2006) assumed that this difference in furan content could be due to different heating treatment as fruit samples are generally pasteurised whereas the vegetables are generally sterilised. In the present evaluation baby food containing mainly vegetables and meat show mean furan concentrations of 40 µg/kg whereas cereal based baby food show lower mean values (19 µg/kg). Attempting to take into account the 10-fold difference in mean furan content between the fruit based and vegetable and meat based baby food is likely to present a challenge in future furan dietary exposure assessments for children. In contrast to commercially jarred food products, Lachenmeier et al. (2009) demonstrated that none of 20 freshly home-prepared baby foods contained furan above the limit of detection. Furan was found to have been formed only after re-heating in closed vessels and was especially prevalent in reheated foods containing potatoes, with values ranging between 2.3 and 29.2 µg/kg. These results are in agreement with those of Bianchi et al. (2006) who detected none or very low concentrations in seven homemade baby foods Other food While the mean furan concentrations for beer, baked beans, soups and soy sauce were lower than previously reported, fish was higher and the remaining food groups, baby and coffee groups excluded, were within the range of previously published data (Crews and Castle, 2007; Zoller et al., 2007). Maximum values exceeding a level of 100 µg/kg were found in cereal products like puffed rise, in fish products, such as mackerels and sardines in tomato sauce, in meat products like canned duck with 15

16 lentils or rabbit with prunes, in soups, such as tomato soup and in sauces like gravies. Other high amounts were reported for toasted bread and salted crackers. Zoller et al. (2007) reported similar finding and stated that furan was concentrated in the crust of the bread. The crust always contained more furan than the entire bread, with a 3- to 20-fold difference depending on the surface-to-volume ratio. Milk based processed food showed low mean furan content (6 µg/kg), but interestingly the maximum furan content of 80 µg/kg was reported for sweetened condensed milk. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS It can be concluded that furan is present in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods for adults and infants. Preliminary studies indicate that home-prepared food, with the exception of coffee, hardly contain any furan above the limit of detection. It appears to be possible to reduce the furan content in some food by volatilisation through heating and stirring of canned or jarred foods in an open saucepan. Currently there is no information available on other mitigation measures. Future testing of furan by Member States should preferably target such food products where limited results are available and if possible, comprise of samples analysed as purchased followed by the same sample analysed as consumed indicating the exact cooking preparation with time, temperature and handling information. Reduction of furan formation in food seems to be more challenging compared to other process contaminants, such as acrylamide, particularly since furan formation is intrinsic to the development of some desired organoleptic properties of food. There is a need not only for more detailed exposure assessment data, but also for better toxicological information on which to base a comprehensive risk assessment. Further research is needed on furan formation in a complex model system representing a range of relevant food items. REFERENCES Bianchi F, Careri M, Mangia A and Musci M, Development and validation of a solid phase micro-extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method for the determination of furan in baby food. Journal of chromatography analysis, 1102, Crews C and Castle L, A review of the occurrence, formation and analysis of furan in heatprocessed foods. Trends in Food Science and Technology, 18, DTU (Technical University of Denmark) 2009.Scientific report submitted to EFSA. Furan in heat processed food products including home cooked food products and ready-to-eat products. Available at: EC (European Commission) Regulation No. 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on official controls performed to ensure the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health and animal welfare rules. OJ L 191, , p. 1. EC (European Commission), Report on the relationship between analytical results, measurement uncertainty, recovery factors and the provisions of EU food and feed legislation, with particular reference to community legislation concerning. Available at: EC (European Commission) Recommendation., Commission recommendation 2007/196/EC of 28 March 2007 on the monitoring of the presence of furan in foodstuffs. Official Journal of the European Union L 88/56. 16

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