Starting from 1 January 2026, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2246 will come into force, amending the previous Regulation (EU) 2022/932 regarding minimum control frequencies for contaminants in food. An apparently technical change, but which actually touches on a very important topic: food safety.
The controls in question concern the search for chemical contaminants in foods, as required by Regulation (EU) 2023/915, which sets the maximum permitted levels of potentially harmful substances. These include, for example:
They are substances which, if they exceed the legal limits, can represent a risk to human health, which is why the control frequencies are used to verify that the products placed on the market respect the safety thresholds.
What changes
The new regulation lowers the minimum frequency of checks on some categories of food products, in particular unprocessed meat and fresh eggs. The new thresholds, applicable from 2026, are as follows:
Furthermore, for eggs the obligation of a minimum sampling frequency of 10% for checks on heavy metals, foreseen for other product groups, is eliminated.
Because the frequency of checks is decreasing
The reasons for the reduction are explained directly in the new regulation, where the Commission refers to the data collected by the Member States and the experience of recent years. The document states that:
The minimum control frequencies referred to in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/932 are determined on the basis of risk. Experience gained from the application of this Regulation shows that for certain products the minimum control frequencies are not adequate.
As regards unprocessed meat, specify:
Data collected by Member States shows that in the case of unprocessed meat from cattle, sheep, goats, pigs and poultry there is a low risk of non-compliance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915. It is therefore appropriate to reduce the minimum control frequency for such meat, including edible offal.
While for eggs, he adds:
Data collected by Member States also shows that in the case of eggs there is a low risk of non-compliance with Regulation (EU) 2023/915.
Hence the decision to further reduce sampling for heavy metals:
The requirement of a minimum sampling frequency of 10% (…) for checks on various metals should not apply to the category ‘chicken eggs and other fresh eggs’.
The Commission explains that the review arises from the principle of proportionality: if the data show a low risk of contamination, there is no need to maintain intense controls as in the past. In practice, it involves redistributing monitoring resources towards products and areas where the risk of non-compliance is highest.
A questionable choice
Reducing controls because “no irregularities have been found so far” may seem reasonable on an administrative level, but it raises some concerns in terms of consumer protection. Contaminants — from heavy metals to chemical residues — do not occur with mathematical regularity. They can depend on environmental factors, breeding practices, human or industrial errors.
Lowering the frequency of checks means, in fact, lowering the ability to promptly notice any problems.
And if the risk is low today, can we really exclude that it will increase tomorrow?
From 2026, in any case, we will have even fewer controls on meat and eggs, products that end up on our tables every day. The decision is based on statistical data and a principle of efficiency, but the question remains: is it really appropriate to lower our guard on the controls of these products?
