Geoffrey Podger, the recently elected executive director of the European Food Safety Authority, this week gave the green light for the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration to evaluate flavours for an EU-wide initiative that is seeking to tighten the use of food flavourings on the market. The news marks a small step forward in the agenda of the EFSA.
Having gained the contract, Danish scientists at the Institute of Food Safety and Nutrition will set to work, evaluating up to 800 flavouring substances, between 2003 and 2005, to complete the 'positive list'.
European Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 2232/96 sets out the basic rules or the use of flavouring substances in or on foodstuffs in the EU. It also lays down a procedure for the establishment of an EU-wide positive list of flavouring substances. After its establishment, foreseen by July 2005, only those flavouring substances listed may be added to foods.
The basic elements of the procedure for establishing the positive list requires that the substances authorised for use in foodstuffs at national level have been listed by the Commission in a Register of about 2700 substances. In addition, that the substances are evaluated in accordance with the programme laid down by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1565/2000.
According to the EFSA, the information for the evaluation has to be submitted by manufacturers in compliance with a timetable adopted by Commission Regulation (EC) No 622/2002. The evaluation, which started in July 2000, is intended for completion within five years. According to Article 4 (3) of Commission Regulation (EC) No 2232/96, substances must be deleted from the register if, after the evaluation, it is clear that they do not comply with the general use criteria.
Up until the end of 2002, work was carried out within the framework of scientific co-operation by Member States, in close co-operation with the Commission's Scientific Committee on Food (SCF). But from now on, it will fall under the aegis of the EFSA who will take responsibility for ensuring that the work is effectively completed.