Ethylene oxide in foods: current approach to the risk assessment and practical considerations based on the European food business operator perspective

Abstract

Ethylene oxide (EtO) is a gas used in some countries, such as Canada, the USA and India as a fungicide, bactericide and insecticide in foods. In EU, it has been banned from such use in 1991. The lack of uniformity in worldwide regulations as to EtO led to multiple notifications about foods contaminated with this pesticide entering EU. Nevertheless, notifications appear typically too late for the European food business operators (FBOs) to take actions preventing financial losses. Many of the products are already placed on the market and eaten by the consumers by the time the notifications are issued. Product recalls in such cases are harmful to the image of FBOs and are very likely to trigger losses of customers. Therefore, the appropriate risk assessment is a very crucial matter. In this article, we analyse the notifications for EtO-contaminated foods published in European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed between August 2020 and August 2021, describe the background of the problem, current risk assessment and actions taken by the authorities, review the toxicity of EtO and its fate in foods, describe the case of EtO-contaminated commodity and how the FBO was able to prove the safety of obtained products. Finally, we reflect on information which should be considered for the risk assessment purposes and recommend further research to address EtO fumigation problem. Gathered evidence suggests that multiple recalls and product losses could have been avoided if the safety of heat processed foods was confirmed by testing for EtO.