TY - JOUR T1 - Decontamination process for dioxins and dioxin‐like PCBs from fish oil and vegetable oils and fats by a physical process with activated carbon JF - EFSA Journal Y1 - 2022 A1 - Dieter Schrenk A1 - Margherita Bignami A1 - Laurent Bodin A1 - James Kevin Chipman A1 - Jesus del Mazo A1 - Bettina Grasl‐Kraupp A1 - Laurentius Hoogenboom A1 - Jean‐Charles Leblanc A1 - Carlo Stefano Nebbia A1 - Elsa Nielsen A1 - Evangelia Ntzani A1 - Annette Petersen A1 - Salomon Sand A1 - Tanja Schwerdtle A1 - Christiane Vleminckx A1 - Heather Wallace A1 - Rose, Martin A1 - Bruce Cottrill A1 - Anne Katrine Lundebye A1 - Manfred Metzler A1 - Anna Christodoulidou A1 - Christer Hogstrand KW - decontamination process KW - fish oil KW - Pcbs KW - PCDD/Fs KW - physicalfiltration KW - vegetable oil and fat AB -

Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) assessed a decontamination process of fish oils and vegetable oils and fats to reduce the concentrations of dioxins (polychlorinated dibenzo‐p‐dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans, abbreviated together as PCDD/Fs) and dioxin‐like polychlorinated biphenyls (DL‐PCBs) by adsorption to activated carbon. All feed decontamination processes must comply with the acceptability criteria specified in the Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/786. Data provided by the feed food business operator (FBO) were assessed for the efficacy of the process and to demonstrate that the process did not adversely affect the characteristics and properties of the product. The limited information provided, in particular on the analysis of the samples before and after decontamination, did not allow the CONTAM Panel to conclude whether or not the proposed decontamination process is effective in reducing PCDD/Fs and DL‐PCBs in the fish‐ and vegetable oils and fats. Although there is no evidence from the data provided that the decontamination process leads to detrimental changes in the nutritional composition of the fish‐ and vegetable oils, it is possible that the process could deplete some beneficial constituents (e.g. vitamins). Taken together, it was not possible for the CONTAM Panel to conclude that the decontamination process as proposed by the FBO is compliant with the acceptability criteria provided for in Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/786 of 19 May 2015.

VL - 20 CP - 9 M3 - 10.2903/j.efsa.2022.7524 ER -