BNN-Monitoring of dry goods

Since July 2012, in addition to the established monitoring for fruits and vegetables, the BNN also offers a monitoring program for dry goods. Due to the large heterogeneity of the products and groups of products in the dry goods segment, a different approach is taken here: it focuses much more strongly on the processing and discussion of current focal topics, such as the PA/TA or the plasticizers topic.

Since companies are often confronted with very spontaneously occurring problems, an exchange between the participating companies, the scientific advisory board of the BNN, and the coordination office is of central importance for identifying such changing problem areas. Workshops help to intensify the transfer of knowledge between experts and companies on current issues (for example, regarding pesticide analysis). The coordination office of the monitoring supports the participants in the evaluation of pesticide and contaminant detection, the identification of causes, and communication with control authorities. By sharing analysis data, an improvement in risk assessment is also achieved among the participants.

The following are regularly examined in rotation:

• Processed fruits and vegetables
• Herbs and spices
• Coffee, tea, and cocoa
• Legumes, grains, and grain products
• Oilseeds, oils, and fats

In the following parameter groups:

• Mycotoxins
• Heavy metals
• Dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs
• PAHs
• Plasticizers
• Packaging (e.g. mineral oil)

BNN Focus

In addition to the sample-based and risk-oriented monitoring of OGM and TM, and the resulting results, the BNN Focus - as the name suggests - focuses on specific focus topics. The goal here is to greatly increase the size of the evaluable data sets by adding (anonymized) analysis data from various BNN-accredited laboratories, in order to take advantage of the improved data significance.

The focus is set by the companies themselves: primarily topics that are just "on the horizon" or for which there is a high need for clarification and information (e.g. Ethylene oxide) are the subject of the meetings held several times a year (via Zoom).

Participating companies