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Unit Food Toxicology

The Food Toxicology Unit assesses the potential health risks of foods, their components and their ingredients. Its tasks encompass for instance:

• Conventional foods (foods of plant and animal origin and their natural ingredients)
• Food additives, technical auxiliaries and chemically defined (natural, nature-identical and artificial) flavourings, aromatic extracts (natural aromas, their starting materials and “active principles”), reaction aromas and smoke aromas
• Food processing and preparation methods
• Plants and plant extracts in food, e.g. food supplements
• Alcoholic beverages, fruit juices, soft drinks, coffee, tea and cocoa as well as their ingredients and impurities
• Novel foods and novel food ingredients
• Foods from genetically modified organisms
• Heat-related reaction products in foods

Data on toxicology and on exposure are sourced and evaluated for these tasks. On this basis scientific opinions on risk assessment are elaborated and risk prevention options are proposed for risk management activities (federal and Land ministries, Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety [BVL] and the European Commission).

Staff members in the Unit are involved in national and international scientific bodies like the Senate Commission on Food Safety (SKLM) of the German Research Foundation (DFG), the corresponding scientific panels of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV).

The Unit participates in national and international research projects. The focus is on the use of molecular-toxicological in vitro studies for the toxicological characterisation of food ingredients and additives.

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