Update of results on the monitoring of furan levels in food

Furan is formed in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods and contributes to the sensory properties of the product. Furan has been shown to be carcinogenic in animal experiments. The European Commission requested that Member States collect data on furan concentrations in heat-treated commercial food products to allow a better estimate of dietary exposure. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) summarised the initial findings from the data collection in a 2009 report. The current report brings additional data to the compilation, now covering 4,186 analytical results for furan content in foods sampled between 2004 and 2009 by 18 countries. The highest furan levels were found in solid coffee with mean values varying between 569 μg/kg for instant coffee and 3,611 μg/kg for roasted coffee beans with the highest maximum of 6,900 μg/kg found in roasted ground coffee. In the non-coffee categories mean values ranged between 3.2 μg/kg for ‘infant formula’ and 40 μg/kg for certain ‘baby food’ categories. The highest maximum concentrations for the non-coffee categories were found in ’baby food’ with 224 μg/kg and ‘soups’ with 225 μg/kg. Maximum values exceeding a level of 100 μg/kg were found in cereal products like puffed rise, in fish products such as mackerels and sardines in tomato sauce, in meat products like canned duck with lentils or rabbit with prunes, in soups such as tomato soup and in gravy. Milk based processed food showed low mean furan content. It can be concluded that furan is present in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods for adults and infants. Future testing of furan by Member States should preferably target food products where limited results are available and comprise, if possible, the sample analysed as purchased followed by the same sample analysed as consumed indicating the exact cooking preparation with time, temperature and handling information.

© European Food Safety Authority, 2010

This report published on 15 November 2010 replaces the earlier version published on 3 August 2010.[1]

Furan formed during heat treatment of food and contributing to the sensory properties of the product has been shown to be carcinogenic in animal experiments. In order to monitor the presence of furan in food, the Commission Recommendation 2007/196/EC[2] requests the Member States to collect data on heat-treated commercial food products, particularly during 2007 and 2008 and subsequently on a routine basis, to allow a better estimate of dietary exposure. A first report on the results of the monitoring on furan levels was published in 2009 (EFSA, 2009). The current report update includes all data sampled and analysed between 2004 and 2009.

In response to the Commission request, a total of eighteen Member States have so far submitted analytical results for furan content in food to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). A total of 4,186 complete results were reported for foods sampled between 2004 and 2009. Data were sorted into 21 different food categories (5 coffee and 16 non coffee categories) in accordance with previously reported results in literature. In the current report, two main categories out of these 21 categories were further subcategorised. The ‘baby food’ category was subcategorised into 6 groups according to the ingredient combination and the category ‘others’ was subcategorised into more homogenous subgroups in order to extract further information.

The five coffee categories showed the highest furan content in comparison to the other food groups, with mean values equal to 40 μg/kg for ‘coffee ready-to-drink’, 569 μg/kg for ‘coffee instant’, 1,786 μg/kg for ‘coffee roasted ground’, 1,850 μg/kg for ‘coffee non specified’ and 3,611 for ‘coffee roasted bean’ . The maximum value was found in ‘coffee roasted ground’ with 6,900 μg/kg. In the non-coffee categories mean values ranged between 3.2 μg/kg for ‘infant formula’ and 40 μg/kg for certain ‘baby food’ categories. The highest maximum concentrations for the non-coffee categories were found in ’baby food’ with 224 μg/kg and ‘soups’ with 225 μg/kg.

Only 7% of results were reported as samples analysed as consumed. In the particular case of coffee furan results were compared between samples analysed in raw coffee and samples analysed in coffee beverage. In all coffee subcategories the upper bound mean furan content was lower in the beverage coffee samples than in the raw coffee samples. There is obviously a dilution effect in preparing the coffee, however, little detail was provided on the brew recipes and no information was provided on the type of preparation.

Jarred baby food and infant formulae are of particular interest as they may form the sole diet for many infants and furan has been found in such commercial products. In the present survey, the mean furan content in infant formulae was 3.2 μg/kg. The mean furan content in the different baby food categories ranged from 5 μg/kg for baby food containing only fruits to 40 μg/kg for baby food containing either meat and vegetables or vegetables only.

Maximum values exceeding a level of 100 μg/kg were found in cereal products like puffed rise, in fish products like mackerels and sardines in tomato sauce, in meat products like canned duck with lentils or rabbit with prunes, in soups like tomato soup and in gravy. Milk based processed food showed low mean furan content (6 μg/kg), but interestingly a maximum furan content of 80 μg/kg was found in sweetened condensed milk. It can be concluded that furan is present in a variety of heat-treated commercial foods for adults and infants.

Future testing of furan by Member States should preferably target food products where limited results are available and comprise, if possible, the sample analysed as purchased followed by the same sample analysed as consumed indicating the exact food preparation method used.

Furan, coffee, baby food, jarred food