FDA Releases Searchable Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool for Foods

Created for ease of reference and to help industry market products that are safe for consumers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now offers an online, searchable database of consolidated contaminant levels that are used to evaluate the potential health risks of chemicals in human foods. The Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool can be accessed here.

The transparency tool includes contaminant levels for “poisonous or deleterious substances” that have been established in various FDA guidance documents and regulations for industry. Contaminant levels listed in the transparency tool include tolerances, action levels, guidance levels, derived intervention levels, recommended maximum levels, and advisory levels.

Contaminants in the tool can be filtered by type: toxic elements, mycotoxins, persistent pesticides, radionuclides, and other chemical contaminants. For each contaminant, the tool includes the contaminant name, commodity, contaminant level type, level value, and reference.