3-MCPD and glycidyl esters: levels for baby food, lower levels for oils — and a rule for indirect methods
Commission Regulation (EU) 2026/1825 (OJ of 30 July 2026) introduces, from 1 January 2027, maximum levels for the sum of 3-MCPD and its fatty acid esters (50 µg/kg) and for glycidyl fatty acid esters (25 µg/kg) in baby food and processed cereal-based food for infants and young children. It also lowers the levels for oils and fats intended for producing such food.
- For vegetable oils and fats, fish oils and oils of other marine organisms intended for producing such food, the level for the sum of 3-MCPD and its esters falls from 750 to 500 µg/kg and that for glycidyl esters from 500 to 250 µg/kg as of 1 January 2027.
- New levels apply to multi-ingredient food containing more than 5 % fat and added oils or fats: 1 250 or 2 500 µg of the 3-MCPD sum per kg of fat (depending on the oils used) and 1 000 µg of glycidyl esters per kg of fat; the 3-MCPD level does not cover breaded pre-fried and fried meat and fish, because the factors behind this contamination during frying are not yet known.
- According to the recitals, official control laboratories routinely determine glycidyl esters with indirect methods, which, owing to analytical conversion, also determine 3-MBPD and 3-MIPD fatty acid esters, particularly in marine oils; the glycidyl ester level therefore refers to the sum of glycidyl, 3-MBPD and 3-MIPD esters, and with a direct method to the lower-bound concentration of that sum.
- The basis is EFSA’s 2016 opinion and its 2017 update for 3-MCPD: glycidyl esters are genotoxic and carcinogenic, and for 3-MCPD and its esters EFSA set a tolerable daily intake of 2.0 µg/kg body weight; the regulation also clarifies that the level for “other oils” covers refined olive oil.
Source: Dziennik Urzędowy Unii Europejskiej — rozporządzenie Komisji (UE) 2026/1825