FDA Unveils Transparency Tool for Easy Check of Contaminant Levels in Foods

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The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has launched the Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool (CCT Tool), an online searchable database to evaluate potential health risks of contaminants in foods.

One of the FDA’s roles is to set tolerances, action levels, and guidance levels for contaminants in food to protect public health and ensure the safety of products marketed to U.S. consumers. These levels indicate safety thresholds but do not imply that contamination at those levels is permissible. The FDA uses these measures to minimize or prevent chemical hazards in food.

The new CCT Tool is part of the agency’s initiative to modernize food chemical safety. The online, searchable database provides a consolidated list of contaminant levels in one location for easy searching and covers a broad range of chemical substances that could potentially cause harm. The list includes details such as the contaminant name, commodity, contaminant level type (e.g., action level, guidance level), level value, and reference (e.g., Code of Federal Regulations, FDA Guidance for Industry). Users can also filter the list by contaminant type.

“Ideally there would be no contaminants in our food supply, but chemical contaminants may occur in food when they are present in the growing, storage, or processing environments,” Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner, M.D., M.P.H., said in a statement. “Because many of the most nutritious foods can also contain contaminants, consumers should eat a variety of nutrient-dense foods across and within the main food groups of vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy, and protein to help protect from possible exposure effects.”

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Source: HealthDay

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