Specific reporting requirements for contaminants and food additives occurrence data submission

EFSA requires data on the occurrence of chemicals in food to undertake dietary exposure assessments. The Standard Sample Description (SSD) for food and feed is the EFSA standard for transmission of chemical occurrence data from different data providers (Member States, academic laboratories, industrial stakeholders, etc.) to EFSA. The SSD contains approximately 20 mandatory data elements (fields) that enable a unique description of each sample. For some chemicals, more detailed and specific information is necessary in order to describe the sample and analytical results. This document describes the mandatory data elements and elaborates on specific reporting requirements for submission of analytical occurrence data on specific contaminants in food and feed as well as food additives to EFSA. It updates and replaces a previous version published in June 2015 in response to recommendations relating to data in EFSA’s Scientific Opinions. Reporting requirements are valid from 2017 data transmission year.