10 Controls on the use of flavourings
in foodstuffs
| (27752)
12182/06
+ ADDs 1-2
COM(06) 427
| Draft Regulation on flavourings and certain food ingredients with flavouring properties for use in and on foods and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1576/89, Council Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91. Regulation (EC) No 2232/96 and Directive 2000/13/EC
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| Legal base | Article 95C; co-decision; QMV
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| Department | Food Standards Agency
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| Basis of consideration | SEM of 14 June 2007
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| Previous Committee Report | HC 34-xxxvii (2005-06), para 16 (11 October 2006)
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
10.1 Council Directive 88/388/EEC provides definitions for flavourings
and related substances; restricts the addition to, and presence
of, certain other substances in them; and sets out labelling rules.
The Commission considers that the Directive needs to be substantially
amended to clarify its scope, and to take into account relevant
technological and scientific developments as well as the adoption
of more recent Community legislation on food law, and it therefore
put forward in July 2006 the current document.
10.2 This would repeal the earlier legislation in
this area, and introduce general criteria and safety requirements
for the use of flavourings; establish Community procedures for
their evaluation, and for the authorisation of their use in or
on foods; introduce new labelling provisions and provisions governing
the liability of food business operators; establish maximum levels
for certain undesirable substances in flavourings; refine existing
definitions of flavourings to allow the inclusion of those produced
by new technologies, and introduce two new categories; specify
the processes by which natural flavouring substances and preparations
are obtained; and require new food flavourings which are produced
from a genetically modified organism (GMO) to first be evaluated
under Regulation (EC) No 1829/2003 on GM food and feed. In the
process, the document would extend the scope of existing legislation
to include not only flavourings, but also foods which contain
both flavourings and food ingredients with flavouring properties;
amend the labelling provisions to specify more clearly the source
of preparations which may be described as "natural";
and clarify the definition of flavouring substances.[24]
10.3 In our Report of 11 October 2006, we noted
that the Government welcomed the proposal as maintaining (and,
in some cases, increasing) consumer protection, and allowing UK
manufacturers to benefit from increased trade as a result of harmonisation.
We also commented that this was a complex and highly technical
area, which made it difficult to identify the precise implications
of what had been proposed, but that much of the document essentially
updated and clarified the existing Community legislation. However,
we decided at that stage simply to report the proposal to the
House, and to consider it further when the results of the consultation
exercise being undertaken by the Government were known.
Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum of 14 June
2007
10.4 We have now received from the Minister of State
for Public Health at the Department of Health (Caroline Flint)
a Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum and Regulatory Impact Assessment
of 14 June 2006 reporting on the outcome of the Government's consultation.
She says that both consumer and industry organisations are broadly
content with the proposal, subject to further consideration being
given to two aspects of it.
10.5 First, the proposal provides that, for a product
to be labelled as (for example) "natural strawberry flavour",
at least 90% of the flavour must come from strawberries. Consumer
organisations believe that this should be increased to 98%, whereas
industry point out that this would give rise to significant costs:
the Government says that there is at present no consensus among
Member States on this, but that, it would support the higher figure,
subject to a suitable transitional period being agreed.
10.6 The second point arises from the concerns expressed
by industry about the proposal that limits should continue to
be set for biologically active principles (BAPs) in compound foods
stemming from the use of herbs and spices. BAPs arise naturally
in some (but not all) herbs and spices and are thus not contaminants,
and indeed contribute to the characteristic flavour of a particular
herb or spice. However, there is a need to retain some control
over the level of BAPs because of the toxicological properties
of isolated substances. The current proposal would therefore amend
the present arrangement (which applies to all food and drink,
but which has been enforced in a haphazard manner), and would
set limits only for those categories which give rise to the greatest
consumer exposure from a particular BAP. The Government says that
a majority of Member States are opposed to the total exclusion
of herbs and spices from the proposal, but that the UK is exploring
the possibility of a derogation for foods prepared and served
in restaurants.
Conclusion
10.7 We have noted that these proposals are generally
supported by the industry and consumer organisations, as well
as the line which the UK is taking on the two outstanding areas.
In the light of this further information, we are now clearing
the document.
24 At present, these are "natural" (those
obtained from material of vegetable animal origin), "natural
identical" (those chemically synthesized but otherwise identical),
and "artificial" (those chemically synthesized, but
not chemically identical). The proposal would restrict use of
the description "natural" to flavourings which are exclusively
obtained from natural sources, and it would also introduce a new
category ("Other flavourings"). Back
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