Data requirements for risk assessment of furan in food

Abstract

Furan is an organic, volatile compound used in various chemical-manufacturing industries. Headspace gas chromatography is the analytical method of choice for obtaining reliable results on its occurrence. The presence of furan in some food items has been known since the late 1970s, but a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) survey published in 2004 revealed the occurrence of furan in a broad variety of canned and jarred foods, including baby food, that undergo heat treatment. Furan is carcinogenic in rats and mice, showing a dose-dependent increase in hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas. In rats, a dose-dependent increase of mononuclear leukaemia is evident and a very high incidence of cholangiocarcinomas of the liver, even at the lowest dose tested. There is evidence to indicate that furan-induced carcinogenicity is probably attributable to a genotoxic mechanism. However, chronic toxicity with secondary cell proliferation may indirectly amplify the tumour response. From the available data, there is a relative small difference between possible human exposure and the doses in experimental animals required to produce carcinogenic effects. However, reliable risk assessment requires further data on both toxicity and exposure. The European Food Safety Authority's (EFSA) Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) recommended these studies as part of a reliable risk assessment of furan in food.

Keywords:

• Furan
• data for risk assessment
• carcinogenicity

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the members of the EFSA's CONTAM Panel (period: April 2003 to May 2006): Jan Alexander, Herman Autrup, Denis Bard, Angelo Carere, Lucio Guido Costa, Jean-Pierre Cravedi, Alessandro Di Domenico, Roberto Fanelli, Johanna Fink-Gremmels, John Gilbert, Philippe Grandjean, Niklas Johansson, Agneta Oskarsson, Andrew Renwick, Jiri Ruprich, Josef Schlatter, Greet Schoeters, Dieter Schrenk, Rolaf van Leeuwen and Philippe Verger, as well as the Chemische und Veterinäruntersuchungsamt Stuttgart, Germany (CVUA), the Confederation of the Food and Drink Industries of the EU (CIAA), the Kantonales Laboratorium Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for providing occurrence data on furan.