Guidelines of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives
In order to support the work of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), the Secretariats of JECFA at FAO and WHO have developed guidelines for secretaries, members and experts, and for interested parties that submit data to JECFA or intend to follow JECFA's recommendations. The Secretariats at FAO and WHO maintain separate and complementary sets of guidelines. Close adherence to these guidelines by everyone involved ensures that the concerns and views of all interested parties are taken into account in JECFA decision making and that the independence and integrity of the evaluations are maintained.
Guidelines in the area of food additives and contaminants
FAO procedural guidelines for the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives, February 2003
The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is convened by FAO and WHO under their respective terms of reference for expert committees. This document describes the procedures used by FAO in its evaluation of food additives and contaminants. The guidelines outline the tasks of the FAO Joint Secretariat and its role in servicing JECFA, schedules to be followed in preparing for meetings, the appropriate handling of data, and appropriate relationships with sponsors and other data providers. Supplemental material is included that outlines the procedures by which substances may be placed on the agenda (Annex 1) and the procedures for issuing calls for data (Annex 2). The guidelines are designed to provide guidance to the FAO Secretariat, FAO consultants, JECFA Members and sponsors related to their roles and responsibilities in the evaluation of food additives and contaminants.
Chemical and technical assessments (CTAs) reflect and emphasize the role chemical characterization plays in the risk assessment of food additives. The document is intended to provide the Committee with basic information related to the identity, purity and use of food additives, as related to their risk assessment. CTAs usually contain a summary of the chemistry of the additive, how it is manufactured, its technological justification and its intended use levels and patterns.
Guidance document for WHO monographers and reviewers evaluating contaminants in food and feed
This guidance document replaces the previous guidance for the risk assessment of contaminants in food by JECFA monographers and reviewers, issued by WHO in 2001. It is intended primarily for WHO temporary advisers (monographers) who prepare monographs for JECFA and for Members who have been assigned to peer review them (reviewers). The guidance will also be useful to parties interested in understanding the process followed by JECFA in the evaluation of contaminants that may be present in food or feed, such as heavy metals, environmental contaminants, impurities arising in food or feed additives, solvents used in food or feed processing, substances arising from food or feed processes (such as heating), substances migrating from food or feed contact materials, and residues arising from the use of animal feed additives or the non active components of veterinary drug formulations.
Limit test for heavy metals in food additive specifications, Explanatory note, September 2002
The Note outlines the historical context, decisions made in various meetings, and the proposed limits of heavy metals in different categories of food additives.
This is the first edition of guidelines for the preparation of working papers for JECFA on the intake of food additives, primarily intended for WHO temporary advisers, FAO consultants, and JECFA Members who prepare working papers on intake for the Committee.
This fourth volume includes the revised and updated analytical methods, test procedures and laboratory solutions used in and referenced by JECFA food additive specifications, which first appeared in the Guide to Specifications, FAO Food and Nutrition Paper No. 5, published in 1978 and revised in 1991, as well as newer procedures and an expanded section on laboratory instrumentation.
Guidelines in the area of veterinary drug residues in foods
The guidance contained in this document is intended to inform the FAO Joint Secretariat, members of JECFA appointed by FAO, FAO experts invited to participate in a JECFA meeting and sponsors regarding their roles and responsibilities in the evaluation of veterinary drug residues in food. Annex 1 outlines the procedures by which veterinary drugs may be placed on the agenda for a JECFA meeting, while Annex 2 outlines the procedures for issuing calls for data.
This document provides detailed guidance on the preparation of monographs, working papers and summary documents dealing with the evaluation of veterinary drug residues in foods, covering points such as format, style, content to be included, process and roles, from first drafts to final versions.
This module contains a series of templates (in Part II) which are intended to assist drafting experts and reviewers in the preparation of documents for JECFA meetings, including monographs for the initial review of substances (Template 1), monographs for the ‑re-evaluation of a substance – published as addenda (Template 2), monographs responding to specific questions from the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF) or concerns from Codex member states (Template 3) and discussion papers (Template 4). Templates for the summary documents corresponding to these monographs and discussion papers are provided in templates 5 through 8.
This manuscript documents the procedures developed by JECFA for the evaluation of residues of veterinary drugs in food. It includes, in many instances, the historical development leading to the current procedures. In consolidating the pertinent evaluation procedures, it is intended to provide guidance to present and future members of JECFA and to provide transparency on how the ‑ food safety assessments of ‑veterinary drug residues in food performed by JECFA are conducted. While informative for establishing acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) and recommending maximum residue levels (MRLs), it is not intended to be a prescriptive document on how Member Countries might develop their national regulations regarding ‑veterinary drug residues in food.
Report of the informal JECFA/JMPR harmonization meeting, Rome, Italy, 1‑2 February 1999
At its 11th session, the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods (CCRVDF) recommended a harmonization meeting on residue definitions and other issues related to the use of chemicals both as veterinary drugs and as pesticides. The main task of the meeting was to have an informal exchange of information related to the chemicals of interest to both parties and to devise a single recommendation on definitions of terms and MRL for the use of each chemical as both a pesticide and a veterinary drug.
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Articles
- Harmonized methodology to assess chronic dietary exposure to residues from compounds used as pesticide and veterinary drug
- Assessment of veterinary drug residues in food: Considerations when dealing with sub-optimal data
- Characterizing chronic and acute health risks of residues of veterinary drugs in food: latest methodological developments by the joint FAO/WHO expert committee on food additives
CODEX resources
- CODEX Guidelines
- Codex General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA) Online Database
- Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) and Risk Management Recommendations (RMRs) for Residues of Veterinary Drugs in Foods