BfR Data Collection on Processing Factors

Agricultural products are often not consumed raw, but rather, processed first. This can alter the magnitude of pesticide residues that they contain. The ratio of residue in the processed product to that in the corresponding unprocessed product is known as the processing factor. It indicates whether residues are enriched or reduced during processing procedures. Pro-cessing factors are typically determined under processing conditions simulated in the labora-tory. Details of such processing studies, which have to be submitted by the manufacturers of plant protection products within the scope of authorisation processes, cannot be accessed by the general public.

For this reason, since 2007, the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) has provided a compilation of processing factors on its website, which is regularly updated to the latest level of knowledge. The data collection is aimed primarily at a professional audience. It serves to support risk assessors in refining dietary exposure assessments for consumers as well as agricultural livestock in relation to processed food and feed. The data collection also helps the official food monitoring authorities and risk managers to assess whether the raw product a processed food was made of probably adhered to legal stipulations or not. Howev-er, the published processing factors are unsuitable as sole basis to determine the marketabil-ity of a processed product or to be used in administrative procedures. Here, a decision is required on a case-by-case basis.

The BfR has used transparent quality criteria to check every processing factor derived from a processing study. The robustness and reliability of the study results were commented on. Users can assess the significance of processing factors for themselves because relevant information on the most important parameters of the underlying studies is provided.

In November 2018, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) also published a database on processing factors with significant assistance from the BfR. This database contains all processing factors which were assessed by EFSA in the framework of evaluations of active substances within the EU and/or maximum residue level adjustments up until July 2016. The appraisal of studies was elaborated upon even further compared with the BfR data collection since all studies were also assessed with regard to the representativity of the chosen pro-cessing conditions and more detailed information was provided for each study. In addition, the EFSA database can easily be merged with other databases since the foods and sub-stances have standardised codes.

The BfR has updated its data collection. Changes in residue definitions were taken into ac-count, additional studies were included and those studies, which were already contained in the EFSA database in better quality, were removed from the BfR data collection. In future, the BfR intends to adopt for its data collection the same format and quality as the EFSA da-tabase.

Disclaimer: Despite paying the greatest care and attention when compiling the database, the BfR does not accept any liability for the correctness of the information or for any legal conse-quences resulting from their utilisation. The processing factors contained in the BfR data col-lection are not legally binding. First and foremost, the data collection should be used by pro-fessionals who are familiar with the assessment of pesticide residues in food and feed.

Link: https://www.bfr.bund.de/cm/349/bfr-data-collection-on-processing-factors.pdf