Since 1976, the Global Environment Monitoring System - Food Contamination Monitoring and Assessment Programme, which is commonly known as GEMS/Food, has informed governments, the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other relevant institutions, as well as the public, on levels and trends of contaminants in food, their contribution to total human exposure, and significance with regard to public health and trade. The Programme is implemented by the WHO in cooperation with a network of more than 30 WHO Collaborating Centres and recognized national institutions located all around the world.

• Overview

Network

• Food collaborating institutions
• GEMS collaborating labs

Methodology

• Chapter 6: Dietary Exposure Assessment of Chemicals in Food
  Principles and methods for the risk assessment of chemicals in food
  Environmental health criteria, 240
• Guidance for International Estimated Short-term Intake (IESTI)
  
• IESTI calculation data overview 
• IESTI calculation model final 
• Template for the evaluation of chronic exposure (IEDI)

The database is designed to access and submit data on contaminant levels in food.

This is a web-based system to access and submit data on contaminant levels in foods (OPAL-web) established in 2011.

As part of its dietary exposure assessment mandate, GEMS/Food has developed supra-national model diets which are currently used for predicting dietary intake of various chemicals according to internationally accepted methodologies (EHC 240).

The GEMS/ Food Cluster diets - 2012 Dashboard displays a map of countries as well as consumption data for all 17 GEMS/Cluster diets. Users can select a cluster to view both the countries comprising the cluster as well as the grams/person/day consumption data for the selected cluster

The Food safety collaborative platform (FOSCOLLAB) integrates elements from separate sources: JECFA database, JMPR database, GEMS/Food Contaminants database, FAO/WHO Chronic individual food consumption database (CIFOCOss), the WHO Collaborating Centers Database and data from other UN organizations.

By integrating multiple sources of reliable data, FOSCOLLAB helps overcome the challenges of accessing key sources in a timely manner, allowing for better risk assessment and decision-making by food safety professionals and authorities.

WHO developed a distance learning tool (DLT) in collaboration with the Chulabhorn Research Institute (Bangkok, Thailand), a WHO Collaborating Centre. This DTL should be used by scientists and risk managers to analyse the food contamination data submitted to GEMS/Food. Password-protected access to the learning tool is available upon request to vergerp@who.int.