The EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) panel on dietic products, nutrition and allergies (NDA) said that the novel food can be considered equivalent to its source - refined rapeseed oil - as regards fatty acid composition and contaminants.
This could be good news for food makers looking to tap new opportunities in nutritionally-fortified foods. According to the proposal of the applicant, the novel food could be used as an ingredient in a wide range of products.
Rape seed, palm oil and soybean are all experiencing strong market growth as food makers continue to turn away from animal fats in favour of vegetable alternatives. By 2008 analysts Business Communications Company predict these key vegetable edible oils will account for 69.9 per cent of the US market alone.
Saponification is the hydrolysis of an ester under basic conditions to form an alcohol and the salt of the acid. Unsaponifiables, components of an oil or fat can be beneficial because they may contain desirable properies such as vitamins and texture.
Rapeseed oil high in unsaponifiable matter is obtained via concentration of the unsaponifiable fraction of refined rapeseed oil by the application of a high vacuum-distillation step (molecular distillation).
The difference, however, between the novel food and its source arises from the concentration of the unsaponifiable fraction from 1.0 g/100 g to 9 g/100 g (including 7 g/100 g sterols and 1 g/100 g total tocopherols) and the concomitant decrease of triglycerides (from 99.0 g/100g to 91.0 g/100 g).
According to the NDA, this high-vacuum distillation step also results in the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and possibly other organic contaminants in the novel food. As a result, appropriate treatments and strict control measures must be in place to ensure that the levels of these contaminants in the final product comply with current regulations.
As regards toxicology, microbiology and allergenic potential however, the NDA regarded the novel food as comparable to refined low erucic acid-rapeseed oil.
The novel food supplies 70 mg sterols/g and 10 mg total tocopherols/g. The intended maximum daily intake of the novel food of 1.5 g results in an intake of 15 mg total tocopherols, corresponding to 7 mg a-tocopherol equivalents.
The Tolerable Upper Intake Level for vitamin E of 300 mg/day for adults (SCF, 2003) is also not likely to be exceeded under the specified conditions of use of the novel food.