10.1.2002 Official Journal of the European Communities L 6/45 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2001/102/EC of 27 November 2001 amending Directive 1999/29/EC on the undesirable substances and products in animal nutrition (Text with EEA relevance) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community, Having regard to Council Directive 1999/29/EC of 22 April 1999 on the undesirable substances and products in animal nutrition (*), and in particular Article 10 point (a) thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission, Whereas: Directive 1999/29/EC provides that feed materials may only be put into circulation in the Community if they are sound, genuine and of merchantable quality. The term ‘dioxins’ covers a group of 75 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin (PCDD’) and 135 polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDF) congeners, of which 17 are of toxicological concern. The most toxic congener is 2,3,7,8-tetrachlordibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and other reputable international organisations as a known human carcinogen. The Scientific Committee for Food (SCF), in line with the World Health Organisation (WHO), concluded that the carcinogenic effect of dioxins does not occur at levels below a certain threshold. Other adverse effects, such as endometriosis, neurobehavioural and immunosuppressive effects occur at much lower levels and are therefore considered rele- vant for the determination of a tolerable intake. Polychlorinated biphenyls, (PCBs)), are a group of 209 different congeners which can be divided into two groups according to their toxicological properties: 12 congeners exhibit toxicological properties similar to dioxins and are therefore often termed ‘dioxin-like PCBs". The other PCBs do not exhibit dioxin-like toxicity but have a different toxicological profile. Each congener of dioxins or dioxin-like PCBs presents a different level of toxicity. In order to be able to sum up the toxicity of these different congeners, the concept of () O] L 115, 4.5.1999, p. 32. toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) has been introduced to facilitate risk assessment and regulatory control. This means that the analytical results relating to all 17 indi- vidual dioxin congeners and to the 12 dioxin-like PCB congeners are expressed in terms of a single quantifiable unit: ‘TCDD toxic equivalent concentration’ (TEQ’). Dioxins and PCBs are extremely resistant to chemical and biological degradation and therefore persist in the environment and accumulate in the feed and food chain. The distribution of dioxins, PCBs and dioxin-like PCBs throughout the environment causes background contamination affecting all terrestrial plants directly grazed or used as feed materials for animal feed as well as the aquatic feed chain. The same applies to the soil that might contaminate feed materials or be directly ingested by animals. In addition to background contami- nation, direct accidental pollution of feed materials may occur due to localised discharge of dioxins from indus- trial activities, contamination of feed materials during their production, processing and transportation, and illegal practices or management failures during feed production. More than 90 % of human dioxin exposure derives from foodstuffs. Foodstuffs of animal origin normally contri- bute to approximately 80 % of overall exposure. The dioxin burden in animals derives mainly from feeding- stuffs. Therefore feedingstuffs, and in some cases soil, are of concern as potential sources of dioxins. The SCF adopted an opinion on the Risk Assessment of Dioxins and Dioxin-like PCBs in Food on 30 May 2001. This is an update based on new scientific information available since the adoption of the SCF opinion on this matter on 22 November 2000. The SCF fixed a tolerable weekly intake (TWT) for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs of 14 pg WHO-TEQ/kg body weight. Exposure estimates indicate that a considerable proportion of the Community population has a dietary intake in excess of the tolerable intake.