For nearly six decades, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR) have served as scientific advisory bodies to the Codex Alimentarius Commission. In light of the increasingly complex nature of chemical assessments in food since publication of the latest guidance in 2009, JECFA/JMPR have initiated multiple efforts to update subchapters in EHC 240 (Principles and methods for the risk assessment of chemicals in food, Environmental Health Criteria 240).
In particular, an updated Chapter 5 in EHC reflects new scientific developments and contributes to international harmonization in the application of dose-response modeling and derivation of acute and chronic health-based guidance values, considering toxicological, microbiological, and pharmacological effects. WHO has opened a public consultation on the updated chapter (and annex), to ensure its transparency and that it contains sufficient detail on the methods, assumptions, and scientific assessment.
Interested parties are invited to submit written comments by January 31, 2020.