The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has concluded that the sweetener advantame is safe for human consumption. Derived from aspartame and vanillin, advantame is reportedly 37,000 times sweeter than sugar and 100 times sweeter than aspartame and can be used to enhance flavors such as fruit, citrus and mint and to extend the sweetness duration in chewing gum. The agency has established an acceptable daily intake of 5 mg per kilogram of body weight per day. See ajinomoto.com.
Category Archives European Food Safety Authority
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued a draft assessment of consumer exposure to bisphenol A (BPA), provisionally concluding that “for all population groups diet is the major source of exposure to [BPA] and exposure is lower than previously estimated.” According to a July 25, 2013, news release, EFSA used exposure modeling and new human biomonitoring data to refine its estimate of dietary BPA exposure levels for infants and toddlers (375 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per day) as well as the general population above age 18 (132 ng/kg bw/day). In addition, the agency found that dietary BPA exposure was highest among children ages 3 to 10, “explainable by their higher food consumption on a body weight basis.” “By comparison, these estimates are less than 1% of the current Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI) for BPA (0.05 milligrams/kg bw/day) established by EFSA in 2006,” stated EFSA, which identified canned food and non-canned meat and meat…
Responding to a request from the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced plans to complete a draft scientific opinion on acrylamide by mid-2014 using “hundreds of scientific studies” as well as new data from food business operators, consumer organizations and other stakeholders. According to a July 15, 2013, news release, EFSA’s Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM Panel) will use information and research solicited in April 2013 to assess “the toxicity of acrylamide for humans and update its estimate of consumer exposure through the diet.” After a public consultation, the CONTAM Panel aims to finalize its assessment during the first half of 2015. “In 2005, EFSA stated that acrylamide may be a human health concern and that efforts should be made to reduce exposure to this substance through the diet,” said the agency. “EFSA’s comprehensive assessment of this scientific issue will allow EU decision-makers to…
Following a request from the European Commission concerning the declining health of bees in Europe, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published new guidance for assessing the potential risks to bees from the use of pesticides. Noting that a previous risk assessment for honeybees did not fully account for risks from chronic or repeat exposure to pesticides, or the potential risks to larvae, EFSA said that the new guidance fills these gaps, adds schemes for bumble bees and solitary bees and proposes a new method for assessing whether the potential harm posed to bees from the use of a plant protection product is acceptable. “This method—which gives a more precise assessment of acceptable loss of foragers than the existing approach—should afford greater protection to honey bee colonies situated on the edge of fields treated with pesticides,” said EFSA. According to EFSA pesticide experts, the attributes to protect honey bees are…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has launched two public consultations on draft guidance for feed additives. Issued by EFSA’s Panel on Additives and Products or Substances Used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP), the first draft document offers guidance “for the preparation of dossiers for the renewal of the authorization for feed additives.” Under Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No. 1831/2003, FEEDAP currently requires applicants to renew feed additive permits every 10 years by providing enough technical information to “enable an assessment to be made of additives based on the current state of knowledge.” The panel has also requested feedback on draft guidance stemming from its updated assessment “of the toxigenic potential of Bacillus species used in animal nutrition.” According to EFSA, “Bacillus species are used in animal production directly as microbial feed additives or as the source of other feed additives, notably enzymes,” although certain strains—such as those in the…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently published its recommendations for improving meat inspection procedures in the European Union (EU) after a previous assessment found that “traditional practices... are not always suitable for detecting the main meat borne hazards such as Campylobacter and Salmonella or contamination by chemical substances.” Billed as “a major piece of work that will provide the scientific basis for the modernization of meat inspection across the EU,” the four new opinions address the potential public health risks of meat derived from solipeds, farmed game, sheep, goats, and cows, in addition to setting “harmonized epidemiological indicators” for identifying biological hazards. Looking at data on the incidence and severity of foodborne diseases in humans as well as the outcomes of various residue testing programs, EFSA’s experts ranked the biological and chemical hazards of particular concern for each species, singling out verocytotoxin-producing E. coli, dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls as…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published new guidance on ways of assessing the potential risks of producing genetically modified (GM) animals, including fish, insects, mammals, and birds. Although EFSA reports that it has not yet received any applications for GM animals, the European Commission evidently requested that the agency develop environmental risk assessment (ERA) guidance because scientific developments indicate that “future submissions may be made for a number of species.” According to EFSA, the guidance will provide a “clear framework” for evaluating potential adverse effects of living GM animals on the environment and on human and animal health. “The core of the guidance is that ERAs for GM animals must be carried out in a scientifically sound and transparent manner,” said Elisabeth Waigmann, head of EFSA’s GMO Unit. “They must be based on sufficient scientific and technical data that enable conclusions to be drawn on possible environmental risks posed by…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has lowered the tolerable daily intake (TDI) of phenol—a chemical used to make coatings, adhesives and inks in food contact materials—from 1.5 to 0.5 mg/kg bw/day. The action follows a request from the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment asking EFSA’s Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids (CEF) to reassess the TDI because the original value was “within the same dose range which was reported to be associated with some haematotoxic and immunotoxic effects in an oral study on phenol.” In its scientific opinion on the toxicological evaluation of phenol, EFSA stated that the chemical was last evaluated in 1984. The derived TDI does not consider the hazard of possible oxidation products such as quinones and hydroquinones, which CEF suggested should be evaluated separately. The panel also concluded that the “European Commission should consider other routes of exposure, including flavorings,…
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently announced its decision to delay its final opinion on the safety of aspartame until November 2013 “to allow sufficient time to consider and address feedback, including new information, resulting from the public consultation on its draft opinion.” According to the agency, the Scientific Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources Added to Food (ANS Panel) received more than 200 comments on its January 9, 2013, draft opinion “on issues such as how EFSA’s experts select studies for its risk assessments, the safety of the metabolites of aspartame and how best to express uncertainties highlighted in the draft opinion.” Based on this feedback, ANS Panel experts have purportedly “identified aspects of their draft opinion and key steps in their scientific approach that they would like to clarify further, including the expression of uncertainties, before finalizing their conclusions.” Finding that aspartame and its breakdown products “pose…
The European Food Safety Authority’s (EFSA’s) Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA Panel) has initiated a public consultation on the draft scientific opinion on dietary reference values for fluoride. Citing evidence that supports fluoride’s role in the prevention of dental caries, the NDA Panel set the adequate intake (AI) for all sources, including non-dietary ones, based on “estimates of mean fluoride intakes of children via diet and drinking water with fluoride concentrations at which the caries preventative effect approached its maximum whilst the risk of dental fluorosis approached its minimum.” To this end, the panel set the AI of fluoride from all sources at 0.05 mg/kg body weight per day for both children and adults, including pregnant and lactating women. EFSA will accept comments on the proposed reference values until June 13, 2013.
