EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority ·10 Nov 2026 ·Added 11 Nov 2026

Updated Scientific Opinion on the risks for animal and human health related to the presence of phomopsins in feed and food.

EFSA Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM), Helle Katrine Knutsen, Agneta Åkesson, Margherita Bignami, Laurent Bodin, James Kevin Chipman, Gisela Degen, Antonio Hernández-Jerez, Tim Hofer, Christer Hogstrand, Stefano Landi, Jean-Charles Leblanc, Kyriaki Machera, Evangelia Ntzani, Isabelle P Oswald, Salomon Sand, Katharina Vejdovszky, Barbara Viviani, Vasileios Bampidis, Guido Rychen, Ronald Maul, Edoardo Carnesecchi, Jean-Lou Dorne, Petra Gergelová … Chantra Eskes (29 authors)

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Abstract

The EFSA CONTAM Panel assessed the risks for animal and human health related to the presence of phomopsins in feed and food. Lupins are considered the main source of phomopsins. Since the previous CONTAM Panel 2012 Opinion on phomopsins, new studies investigated the structural diversity of phomopsins. Improvements in the analytical methods, particularly by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) lowered the limits of quantification. Despite the availability of 5437 analytical occurrence results on food and 104 analytical results on feed for phomopsin A, only few quantified data were available for food and feed. The lack of occurrence data for the relevant food category, i.e. lupins, hindered human dietary exposure assessment and risk characterisation. For animals, the data available on sweet lupins, i.e. the main contributor of phomopsin in feed, was sufficient to assess animal dietary exposure. Mean lower bound-upper bound (LB-UB) dietary exposure ranged from 0.51 ng/kg bw per day for horses to 90.2 ng/kg bw per day for chickens for fattening. In sheep, phomopsins affected survival, liver, kidney and the appetite of animals. A no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of 2.2 μg phomopsins/kg bw per day was established for sheep, based on decreased appetite and moderate liver disease. This corresponds to a NOAEL concentration in feed of 98 μg phomopsins/kg complete feed for lambs for fattening (i.e. 112 μg phomopsins/kg feed DM) and 64 μg phomopsins/kg complete feed for dairy sheep (i.e. 73 μg phomopsins/kg feed DM). The P95 exposure to phomopsins, as a % of the NOAEL concentration in feed, ranged between 0.51% and 2.04% for lambs for fattening and was 2.91% for dairy sheep. Regarding animals, the CONTAM Panel concludes that current dietary exposure to phomopsin A does not raise a concern for sheep health. No conclusion can be made for other animal species due to insufficient hazard data.