On July 1, 2025, new EU maximum levels for nickel in various foods went into effect. Additional maximum levels for nickel in cereals will enter force in July 2026. The new maximum levels are intended to protect the public from the health effects of excessive dietary nickel exposure.

Nickel is a heavy metal that naturally occurs in the environment, and can therefore contaminate food. In 2020, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) updated its risk assessment for nickel in food and water, concluding that the metal may cause chronic and acute effects at certain levels, including eczema, neurotoxic effects, and pregnancy loss. Based on these health consequences, EFSA established a tolerable daily intake (TDI) for nickel of 3 micrograms per kilogram of bodyweight (μg/kg bw). However, considering EU-wide monitoring data for the presence of nickel in food that was collected from 2016–2018, EFSA concluded that the TDI of 3 μg/kg bw is exceeded in certain populations; specifically, toddlers, children between 36 months and 10 years old, and in some cases, infants. Therefore, to protect public health, the European Commission determined that maximum levels for nickel in food should be set.

Commission Regulation (EU) 2024/1987 amends Regulation (EU) 2023/915 to establish new maximum levels for nickel in various foodstuffs. Specifically, the regulation sets the following maximum limits for the natural contaminant, which went into effect July 1, 2025:

• Chestnuts, pine nuts, walnuts, Brazil nuts, and cashew nuts: 10 milligram (mg) per kg
• All other tree nuts: 3.5 mg/kg
• Root and tuber vegetables and bulb vegetables: 0.9 mg/kg
• Fruiting vegetables: 0.4 mg/kg
• Brassica vegetables: 0.5 mg/kg
• Fresh herbs: 1.2 mg/kg
• Leafy vegetables other than fresh herbs: 0.5 mg/kg
• Edamame/soybeans (wet weight): 6 mg/kg
• Legumes other than soybeans: 1 mg/kg
• Stem vegetables: 0.4 mg/kg
• Seaweed (wakame): 40 mg/kg
• Seaweed other than wakame: 30 mg/kg
• Dry beans and dry lupins: 12 mg/kg
• Pulses other than dry beans/lupins: 4 mg/kg
• Sunflower seeds: 8 mg/kg
• Peanuts: 12 mg/kg
• Soybeans: 15 mg/kg
• Milk chocolate (less than 30 percent total dry cocoa solids): 2.5 mg/kg
• Milk chocolate (greater than or equal to 30 percent dry cocoa solids) 7 mg/kg
• Cocoa powder and fat reduced cocoa powder: 15 mg/kg
• Soy-based powdered formulas for infants and young children: 0.4 mg/kg
• All other powdered formulas for infants and young children: 0.25 mg/kg
• Liquid formulas for infants and young children: 0.1 mg/kg
• Processed cereal-based food for infants and young children: 3 mg/kg
• Fruit juices, fruit nectars, and vegetable juices: 0.25 mg/kg
• Fruit juices and fruit nectars containing juices and nectars from passion fruits, cocoa fruits, and small fruits and berries, and from coconut water: 1 mg/kg
• Baby food (except fruit/vegetable juices and nectars intended as baby food): 0.5 mg/kg.

Additional maximum levels for nickel in cereals will also come into effect in one year—on July 1, 2026—which were given additional time due to the complexity of their supply chains. Specifically, those maximum levels are for:

• Husked rice: 2 mg/kg
• Durum wheat and rice (except husked rice): 1.5 mg/kg
• Pseudo cereals and millet: 3 mg/kg
• Oats: 5 mg/kg
• All other cereals: 0.8 mg/kg.

Foods placed on the market prior to July 2025 (or July 2026 for cereals) may remain on the market for the duration of their shelf life.

Read the entirety of Regulation (EU) 2024/1987 specifying new maximum levels for nickel in foodstuffs here.