The summary report of the 98th meeting of JECFA is now publicly available

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) has published its summary report of the 98th meeting. International experts gathered at FAO headquarters in Rome from 20 to 29 February 2024 to evaluate the safety of residues from veterinary drugs, representing the 25th JECFA meeting to specifically consider this topic.

Alan Chicoine (University of Saskatchewan) served as Chairperson and Alan R. Boobis (Imperial College London) as Vice-Chairperson, while Holly Erdely (United States Food and Drug Administration) and Angelo Moretto (University of Padova) served as rapporteurs for FAO and WHO, respectively. Vittorio Fattori (FAO) remarked on the achievements of the Committee: “Despite challenging evaluations, the Committee succeeded in moving forward to provide recommendations on the safety of two veterinary drugs. We look forward to releasing the full details of the risk assessment in the overall technical report.”

The Committee evaluated the safety of two veterinary drugs, clopidol and fumagillin dicyclohexachloride. The Committee also completed the safety evaluation of imidacloprid started at its ninety-fourth meeting. It discussed the updated guidance for the Safety Evaluation of Residues of Veterinary Drugs with incomplete data packages and added relevant considerations for toxicological, microbiological and residue evaluation and for evaluating dietary exposure. The Committee adopted the guidance and welcomes comments from the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Food (CCRVDF).  

At the meeting, the ongoing development of a Toolbox for Veterinary Drug Residues Risk Assessment was announced by FAO. The aim is to strengthen understanding of JECFA procedures by stakeholders interested in veterinary drug residues in food, such as regulatory agencies responsible for veterinary drug approval or food safety standards, the pharmaceutical industry, producers in animal agriculture and veterinary associations. The Toolbox is expected to be ready by the end of 2024 and will be publicly available on the FAO website. 

The summary and conclusions of the 98th JECFA meeting is now available. The full report of the meeting will be published in the WHO Technical Report Series.

Read more about JECFA on the FAO website, WHO website and CCRVDF.

Photo credit: ©FAO/Pier Paolo Cito. Editorial use only. Copyright ©FAO.