The Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) provides scientific advice on contaminants in the food chain and undesirable substances such as natural toxicants, mycotoxins and residues of unauthorised substances.
CONTAM Panel Members are scientists from across Europe with expertise in:
- Chemistry – organic, inorganic, analytical chemistry, food and feed processing in the area of chemical contaminants
- Exposure assessment – expertise is required especially in relation to dietary exposure assessment of chemical contaminants including knowledge on food consumption surveys
- Human and veterinary toxicology (in risk assessment of chemicals) – absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion (ADME) of substances (toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics), sub-chronic and chronic toxicity (repeated dose studies), genotoxicity and mutagenicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, carcinogenicity, allergenicity and immunotoxicity.
- Toxicological tests in experimental animals – interpreting toxic effects of chemical contaminants in farm and pet animals
- Epidemiology – biomarkers of the effects and exposure and interpretation of human data)
- Statistics – assessment of dose-response effects, e.g. benchmark dose modelling and analysis of complex (epidemiological) data sets
- Animal nutrition – animal exposure assessment.
Panel Members
CONTAM Panel Members, 2018-2021
Chair: Schrenk, Dieter
Vice-Chair: Hogstrand, Christer; Wallace, Heather
Members: Bignami, Margherita; Bodin, Laurent; Chipman, James Kevin; Del Mazo, Jesus; Grasl-Kraupp, Bettina; Hoogenboom, Laurentius (Ron); Leblanc, Jean-Charles; Nebbia, Carlo Stefano; Nielsen, Elsa; Ntzani, Evangelia; Petersen, Annette; Sand, Salomon; Schwerdtle, Tanja; Vleminckx, Christiane
Previous Panel Members
2015-2018
Chair: Helle Katrine Knutse
Vice-Chair: Lutz Edler; Christiane Vleminckx
Members: Jan Alexander; Lars Barregard; Margherita Bignami; Beat Brüschweiler, as of July 2016; Sandra Ceccatelli; Bruce Cottrill; Michael Dinovi; Bettina Grasl-Kraupp; Christer Hogstrand; Laurentius (Ron) Hoogenboom; Carlo Stefano Nebbia; Isabelle Oswald; Annette Petersen; Vera Maria Rogiers, until June 2016; Martin Rose; Alain-Claude Roudot; Tanja Schwerdtle; Guenter Vollmer; Heather Wallace
2012-2015
Chair: Diane Benford
Vice-chair: Peter Fürst; Dieter Schrenk
Members: Sandra Ceccatelli; Bruce Cottrill; Michael DiNovi; Eugenia Dogliotti; Lutz Edler; Peter Farmer; Anne Katrine Lundebye; Laurentius Ron Hoogenboom; Helle Katrine Knutsen; Manfred Metzler; Antonio Mutti; Carlo Stefano Nebbia; Michael O’Keeffe; Annette Petersen; Ivonne Rietjens, until May 2014; Vittorio Silano, until July 2014; Hendrik Van Loveren; Christiane Vleminckx; Pieter Wester
2009-2012
Chair: Josef Schlatter
Vice-chair: Diane Benford; Rolaf van Leeuwen
Members: Jan Alexander; Alan Boobis; Sandra Ceccatelli; Bruce Cottrill, as of May 2011; Jean-Pierre Cravedi; Alessandro di Domenico; Daniel Doerge; Eugenia Dogliotti; Lutz Edler; Peter Farmer; Metka Filipic; Johanna Fink-Gremmels; Peter Fürst; Thierry Guérin; Helle Katrine Knutsen; Christopher Livesey, until July 2009; Miroslav Machala; Antonio Mutti; Martin Rose, as of May 2011; Philippe Verger, until November 2009
The Declarations of Interests and CVs of previous Panel members are available upon request.
Working groups
| Name | Meetings, agendas and minutes (last updated) | Members and declarations |
|---|---|---|
| BFRs in food | DoI database | |
| HMF in honey bees | DoI database | |
| MOH in food | DoI database | |
| Nitrofurans and their metabolites in food | DoI database | |
| Nitrosamines in food | DoI database | |
| Non-allowed pharmacologically active substances in food and feed and their reference points for action (2015-2018) | DoI database | |
| SWG on feed detoxification | DoI database | |
| WG on scallops | DoI database |
Closed working groups
| Name | Minutes (last update) |
|---|---|
| 3-MCPD update | |
| Acrylamide in Food | |
| Aflatoxins in food | |
| Alkaloids | |
| Aspergillus toxins | |
| Brominated Flame Retardants | |
| Chlorate in Food | |
| Chlorinated Paraffins in food and feed | |
| Chromium and nickel | |
| Dioxins in food and feed | |
| Dioxins in food for children | |
| Erucic acid in food and feed | |
| Fumonisins in feed | |
| Furan in food | |
| Fusarium toxins | |
| Glycoalkaloids in food and feed | |
| Gossypol in whole cotton seed | |
| Health-based guidance value (HBGV) for mycotoxins | |
| Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) in apricot kernels | |
| Masked mycotoxins in food and feed | |
| Maximum level of aflatoxins in peanuts | |
| Maximum levels (MLs) of deoxynivalenol in certain cereal products | |
| MCPD and glycidyl esters | |
| Meat inspection - contaminants | |
| Mercury in food | |
| Mineral hydrocarbons in food | |
| Nickel in feed | |
| Nickel in food | |
| Nitrites and nitrates in feed | |
| Ochratoxin A in food | |
| Opium alkaloids | |
| Perchlorate in food | |
| Perchlorate in food correcting opinion | |
| PFAS in food | |
| Phorbol esters in Jatropha kernel meal | |
| Plastic microparticles and nanoparticles | |
| Previous cargoes | |
| Previous cargoes - re-evaluation | |
| Previous cargoes 2016 | |
| Quinolizidine alkaloids in food and feed | |
| Reference Points for Action | |
| Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in milk and other products of animal origin | |
| TTX in bivalve molluscs and marine gastropods | |
| Zearalenone in feed |