Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)
JECFA is an international scientific expert committee administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It has been meeting since 1956, to evaluate the safety of food additives, contaminants, naturally occurring toxicants and veterinary drug residues in food.
The evaluation of food additives at the international level was initiated as a result of a Joint FAO/WHO conference on food additives held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1955. The conference recommended to the Directors-General of FAO and WHO that one or more expert committees should be convened to address the technical and administrative aspects of chemical additives in food and their safety.
JECFA serves as an independent, scientific, expert committee, which performs risk assessments and provides advice to FAO, WHO and the member countries of both organizations, as well as to the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). JECFA Members are prominent scientists from across the world, recognized for scientific excellence, with competencies across various disciplines. JECFA's work includes developing:
- risk assessment and safety evaluation of food additives (including flavouring agents and processing aids), contaminants (including natural toxins) and residues of veterinary drugs in animal products;
- assessment of exposure (to chemicals);
- specifications and analytical methods, residue definition, maximum residue limits proposals on veterinary drugs;
- guidelines for the safety assessment of chemicals in foods consistent with current thinking on risk assessment in toxicology and other relevant sciences.
To date, JECFA has evaluated more than 2600 food additives, approximately 50 contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants, and residues of approximately 75 veterinary drugs. The Committee also develops principles for the safety assessment of chemicals in food that are consistent with current thinking on risk assessment and take account of recent developments in toxicology and other relevant scientific areas such as epidemiology, biotechnology, exposure assessment, food chemistry including analytical chemistry and assessment of maximum residue limits for veterinary drugs.
JECFA normally meets twice a year with agendas covering either (i) food additives, contaminants and naturally occurring toxicants in food or (ii) residues of veterinary drugs in food. Participation in the meetings varies, with different sets of experts being called on depending on the subject matter.
FAO and WHO may also convene expert meetings to provide scientific advice on issues related to chemical food safety that fall outside the remit of JECFA, either in response to specific requests from Codex or in order to advise national authorities on risks or incidents that affect consumer health and have serious economic and trade repercussions.
JECFA outputs
Resources produced for or after JECFA meetings include:
- summary and conclusions reports;
- chemical and technical assessments (CTAs);
- full JECFA meeting reports, published in the WHO Technical Report Series;
- compendia of FAO food additive specifications, published in the FAO JECFA Monograph Series;
- veterinary drug residue monographs, published in the FAO JECFA Monograph Series and, toxicological monographs, published in the WHO Food Additive Series (FAS).
CODEX Resources
- Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA)
- Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods(CCRVDF)
- Codex Committee on Contaminants in Foods (CCCF)
WHO Resources
Contact
JECFA resources
To download and read the latest JECFA resources, visit our Publications page and select "JECFA monographs" in the "Categories" drop down menu, then click the search button.
Visit the JECFA databases to access the most recent information on food additives, flavourings and maximum residue levels for veterinary drugs evaluated by JECFA.