The Contaminant Without a Limit · Emerging Brominated Flame Retardants, Analytical Blind Spots and the Next Generation of Food-Chain Surveillance

The European Food Safety Authority's July 2026 reassessment of emerging and novel brominated flame retardants (BFRs) exposes a consequential asymmetry in modern food safety: the ability to identify a chemical does not necessarily provide sufficient occurrence, toxicokinetic or hazard evidence to characterise its risk. EFSA reviewed 27 substances but could complete a reassuring dietary assessment for only three on the available evidence. This article examines why the remaining uncertainty cannot be converted either into a presumption of safety or into an allegation of harm. It connects environmental transfer, animal-feed pathways, analytical method selection, laboratory reporting limits and legally enforceable contaminant controls. Comparative analysis distinguishes European general food-law duties from substance-specific maximum levels and considers the different operational frameworks of Spain, Great Britain and the United States. A proposed risk- prioritised surveillance architecture would combine suspect screening, targeted confirmation and exposure modelling across feed, food and processing environments. The concept is explicitly a research programme rather than an approved compliance method.