Chemicals in food

Дата на актуализиране:

5 January 2026

7 минути за четене

Chemicals are essential building blocks for everything in the world. All living matter, including people, animals and plants, consists of chemicals. All food is made up of chemical substances. Chemicals in food are largely harmless and often desirable – for example, nutrients such as carbohydrates A family of nutritional substances that includes sugars, starches and fibres, protein A type of molecule composed of complex strings of amino acids (protein building blocks), fat and fibre are composed of chemical compounds. Many of these occur naturally and contribute both to a rounded diet and to our eating experience.

Chemicals can, however, have a variety of toxicological properties, some of which might cause effects in humans and animals. Usually, these are not harmful unless we are exposed to them for a long time and at high levels. Scientists help to safeguard against these harmful effects by establishing safe levels. This scientific advice informs decision-makers who regulate the use of chemicals in food or seek to limit their presence in the food chain.

Overview

Chemical substances can play an important role in food production and preservation. Food additives can, for example, prolong the shelf life of foods; others, such as colours, can make food more attractive. Flavourings are used to make food tastier. Food supplements are used as sources of nutrition The science of how diet relates to the body's need for sustenance.

Food packaging materials and containers such as bottles, cups and plates, used to improve food handling and transport, can contain chemical substances such as plastic, elements of which can migrate into food. Other chemicals can be used to fight diseases in farm animals or crops, or can sometimes be found in food as a result of a production process such as heating/cooking or decontamination treatment.

Some plants and fungi naturally produce toxins that can contaminate crops and be a concern for human and animal health. People can also be exposed to both naturally occurring and man-made chemical compounds present at various levels in the environment, e.g. in soil, water and the atmosphere. Examples include industrial pollutants such as dioxins and PCBs. A variety of metals can be present naturally in the environment or as a result of human activity.

Latest

On 1 January 2026, the ‘one substance, one assessment' (OSOA) package entered into force. A key deliverable of the EU’s Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, it will make chemical assessments more consistent, transparent and efficient across EU legislation, covering products such as toys, food, cosmetics, medicines, pesticides and biocides. The new framework will also help identify risks earlier and allow faster action when needed. It marks a significant step towards better and faster protection of people’s health and the environment.

A core outcome is a new common data platform on chemicals, due to be operational by 2028. Accessible to everyone, this platform will act as a central hub, bringing together chemical data gathered under different EU laws. It will enable public authorities to re-use information on chemicals more easily, supporting better decision-making.

The new measures will bring stronger cooperation between EU chemicals agencies by clarifying the division of tasks, reducing duplication of work, and consolidating scientific and technical tasks. The OSOA package also introduces a monitoring and outlook framework to detect emerging chemical risks earlier. By systematically gathering data and using indicators and early-warning tools, the EU will be better equipped to identify new concerns and act swiftly when necessary.

EFSA's role

EFSA provides scientific advice in the form of risk assessments and other technical assistance on chemicals in food and feed to European Union risk managers (European Commission, European Parliament, Member States). Risk managers take EFSA's scientific advice into account together with other factors when making decisions about the safety of these substances for human and animal health and the environment.

Market authorisation of chemical substances used in the food chain. Before chemicals can be authorised in the EU for use in food and feed, EFSA carries out strict risk assessments to determine which substances can be used safely and at which levels.
Risk assessments are also carried out in relation to contaminants that are considered to be a possible concern for human and/or animal health. Risk managers may take measures to limit human and animal exposure Concentration or amount of a particular substance that is taken in by an individual, population or ecosystem in a specific frequency over a certain amount of time to such substances if EFSA indicates a potential health impact.

Activities

EFSA carries out risk assessments on a wide range of substances, including those that are deliberately added to food and feed, chemical residues that can be present in food and feed due to production, distribution, packaging or consumption, and those that might be present through contact with the environment.

Regulated food ingredients

Some chemicals are added to food for a variety of technical reasons, including to make them taste better, last longer or be more nutritional.

Food chain residues

Sometimes traces of chemicals are present in food because of food production and preparation methods, such as residues of pesticides or additives used in animal feed. Small traces of chemicals from packaging and other food contact materials can also end up in food.

Contaminants in food and feed

Naturally occurring chemical compounds such as metals and nitrates can be present at various levels in the environment, e.g. soil, water and the atmosphere. They can also occur as residues in food because of their presence as environmental pollutants, as a result of human activities such as farming, industry or car exhausts, or as a result of food production such as high-temperature cooking. People can be exposed to them from the environment or by ingesting contaminated food or water.

Assessing chemicals in food

EFSA's main task is to carry out scientific risk assessments on possible hazards associated with the food chain, including potential risks posed by chemicals in food. Our scientists use internationally recognised approaches in their risk assessments of chemicals to help safeguard the health of consumers and animals and to help protect the environment. We have developed a comprehensive body of good chemical risk assessment A specialised field of applied science that involves reviewing scientific data and studies in order to evaluate risks associated with certain hazards. It involves four steps: hazard identification, hazard characterisation, exposure assessment and risk characterisation practices to guide our experts to ensure that our assessments respect the highest scientific standards, including on the following topics:

One Substance, One Assessment

The European Commission published the European Green Deal in December 2019, announcing a chemicals strategy for sustainability. The Commission looked at how to simplify and strengthen the legal framework and review how to use the EU’s agencies and scientific bodies better to move towards ‘one substance, one assessment’ (OSOA). As well as EFSA, the initiative involves the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA), the European Environment Agency (EEA), the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OHSA) and the European Commission.

EFSA and the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) drafted a joint position paper on the idea of “one substance - one assessment” for chemicals. The paper analysed the existing situation and proposed solutions to support simplification, cost savings and improved regulatory predictability. The key proposals were a central coordination mechanism, better coordination on or distribution between agencies of tasks (including on chemical mixtures), and access to all available data in the same structured format.

New legislation supporting the OSOA package entered into force on 1 January 2026. Two regulations assigned new tasks to EFSA:

Regulation (EU) 2025/2455 of 26 November 2025 establishing a common data platform on chemicals. It lays down rules to ensure that the data are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable, and establishes a monitoring and outlook framework for chemicals.
Regulation (EU) 2025/2457 of 26 November 2025 (amending the Food Law Regulation 178/2002) as regards the reattribution of scientific and technical tasks and improved cooperation among Union agencies in the area of chemicals.

In practical terms, the immediate focus is to develop the EU Common Data Platform on Chemicals (EU-CDPC). ECHA is tasked with setting up the EU-CDPC with the support of the other agencies including EFSA. The platform must be functional and include the minimum datasets by the end of 2028. The full integration of all existing and newly generated data needs to be completed within 10 years of the regulation’s entry into force, i.e. by the end of 2036.

EFSA’s data scientists are working to ensure its numerous chemical-related data collections (e.g. chemical monitoring, study notifications, chemical hazards data, food chain applications) can be incorporated into the EU-CDPC as early as possible. An important new task assigned to ECHA and EFSA, in cooperation with EEA, is the commissioning of a human biomonitoring A direct measurement of the level of toxic chemical compounds present in the body. Often, these measurements are made using blood and urine study covering all EU Member States.