FDA launches online database for chemical contaminant levels in food
Key takeaways:
- The Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool provides a consolidated list of contaminant names, plus action and guidance levels.
- The tool is an outcome of the FDA’s initiative to modernize food chemical safety.
The FDA unveiled the Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool, a searchable online database that provides a list of chemical contaminant types and levels used to evaluate possible harm in foods meant for human consumption.
The database “is a critical step for industry to Make America Healthy Again,” HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said in a press release.
“HHS is committed to radical transparency to give Americans authentic, informed consent about what they are eating,” he added.
The Chemical Contaminants Transparency (CCT) Tool provides contaminant levels in one location for easier searching and is part of the FDA’s plan to modernize food chemical safety, the release noted.
Chemical contaminants — for which the FDA establishes tolerances, action levels and guidance levels — include a range of chemical substances “that may be present in food and that have the potential to cause harm,” according to the release.
Levels the FDA gives to these contaminants are above where the agency may find a food to be unsafe “but do not represent permissible levels of contamination,” the release added.
The CCT tool, which can be filtered by contaminant type, includes several components of a contaminant such as its name, level type, and level value and reference (eg, FDA Guidance for Industry). The tool is available online here.
“Ideally, there would be no contaminants in our food supply, but chemical contaminants may occur in food when they are present in the growing, storage or processing environments,” FDA Acting Commissioner Sara Brenner, MD, MPH, said in the release. “Because many of the most nutritious foods can also contain contaminants, consumers should eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods across and within the main food groups of vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein to help protect from possible exposure effects.”