Member States and food operators are asked to share monitoring data with the EFSA
On March 22, 2024, the European Commission published Recommendation (EU) 2024/907 on the monitoring of nickel in food. On the basis of occurrence data collected between 2016 and 2018, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published an updated risk assessment in 2020 and a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 13 μg/kg bw was established. However, the Commission concluded that, for some foods, insufficient occurrence data were available to determine the appropriate maximum levels.
The Commission therefore recommended that Member States, in collaboration with food business operators, should monitor the presence of nickel in food during the years 2025, 2026 and 2027. The monitoring should include nuts and nut spreads, among other foods. According to the Recommendation, Member States should also, where needed, gather knowledge on mitigation measures for the reduction of nickel levels in food and ensure that known mitigation methods are effectively communicated and promoted to farmers and food business operators. Member States and food business operators were also asked to provide the monitoring data to the EFSA on a regular basis for compilation into a single database.
Relatedly, on April 10, 2024, the Commission published Implementing Regulation (EU) 2024/1045 amending Regulation (EC) No 333/2007 as regards the methods of sampling and analysis for the control of levels of nickel in foodstuffs and amending certain references.