Measures to monitor the mineral oil hydrocarbons in food/articles in contact with food.

The presence of Mineral Oil Hydrocarbons (MOH) in food can occur through environmental contamination, lubricants for machinery used for maintaining and harvesting the crops as well as during the production of food. The effects of MOH groups of substances can vary, but potential harmful impact on human health has been discovered, such as genotoxicity, mutagenic and carcinogenic abilities.

Who does this affect:  Europe
What is the new legislation: Recommendation 2017/84/EU (OJ:L12/95/2017)
What does this replace: New recommendation
When does this come into force: January 2017
 
The non-binding recommendation asks EU Member States to monitor MOHs in several types of food and food contact materials (FCMs) used to package that food. The food types to focus on include fats and oils, bread, pasta, breakfast cereals, grains, nuts, sausages, fish, canned fish, cocoa, chocolate, confectionery, ice, and desserts. Upon MOH detection in a particular product, further investigations should seek to determine the contamination source.
 
The MOH monitoring is to be performed in 2017 and 2018, and the monitoring data should be sent to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) by October 1, 2017 and by the same date in 2018
 
The EC plans to provide the Member States with guidance on sampling and analytical methods, prepared by the EU Reference Laboratory on Food Contact Materials
 
The full text of the Regulations may be found here.
 
Source: http://eur-lex.europa.eu