IMPOFAD - Impurities in oil- or fat-derived food additives and compound foods

The IMPOFAD project brings together a unique consortium in Belgium to address issues raised by a lack of data on impurities in food additives derived from oils or fats. We will quantify about 280 impurities (PFAS, pesticides, trace elements, …). Ten analytical methodologies will be used to assess both legacy and emerging contaminants, using the state-of-the-art technologies to achieve the required analytical performance for 16 additives. All analyses to measure impurities in 150 food additive samples will be conducted within the consortium. We will also estimate the potential contribution of these impurities to the intake via food additives to the total exposure for adults, infants and children.

Certain food additives may contribute disproportionally to GEs in foodstuffs, which makes it difficult to establish a derived standard based on the existing ingredient standards. Regarding the assessment of the contamination by MCPDs and GEs in compound food under discussion at the European Level, we will analyze 180 food samples across 19 food categories. Moreover, we will study the formation of MCPDs and GEs during thermal processing of food containing lipids in the presence of carbohydrates. We will work with two models, namely biscuits and extruded snacks, produced at laboratory scale. Finally, as a validation, we will compare the levels of impurities in emulsions that contain several relevant additives and oils, with its formulation processed at laboratory scale.