This portal is dedicated to the control of food and feed safety with an emphasis on the current EU legal framework, especially with regard to chemicals in food. It is intended to be used by (official) control authorities, and the many people working such as inspectors, control laboratories, food and feed producers, and scientific experts such as risk assessors on chemical compounds in food and feed.

Research article

Information about the development of this site, such as on the issues of converting public data onto databases, and about algorithms needed for automation of some steps in the calculation tools, was addressed in a research paper in Food Control, Volume 158, April 2024, p110227. A full copy of that paper is available in the portal. An abridged version is published on ScienceDirect. In this paper you can read more of various details of the tools about ut and data sources.

Databases

In this portal one will find various sources of information and support tools, albeit with a focus on EU food safety policy. So one can find references to databases with legal standards of chemicals such as MRLs and MLs. Other databases in the portal contain copies of EFSA databases on the hazards of the chemicals, such as the OpenFoodTox database, and the Comprehensive European Food Consumption database to determine exposure. The queries and views of these databases differ somewhat from those of EFSA; more attention is taken to the questions of experts for selection of the appropriate data.

Calculation tools

Next to the databases one will find various calculation tools, for a rapid exposure assessment of chemical compounds in food, but also for semi-quantitative calculations on risk ranking. These tools use the databases in the portal, but a user can also include data from their own sources.

Descriptive data

Other web pages provide more explanatory information, such as on the method to establish health based guidance values for exposure assessment, or news regarding relevant updates of the legal framework, or practical support for joining the Codex Alimentarius.

Other support

The portal provides additional support for official control authorities, e.g. for sampling, for selection of the appropriate RASFF notification, but also by providing limit values for rejection of consignments according to article 14 of Regulation 178 of 2002. More support can be requested, both in terms of dedicated training programs, and additional topics to be included into the portal. For such requests, and for questions and comment, please contact the developer of this portal

Archive

In time, various tools undergo minor or major changes. If a change leads to a complete new version of the tool, the existing tool is fully replaced by its successor. The obsolete tool is then moved into an archive; in this way it is still possible to use the old version, e.g. for checking previous evaluations.