Refined Exposure Assessment of E150 Food Colours with Use Levels Provided by the Industry.

Aim: The study was performed on the initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and the Federation of the Dutch Food and Grocery Industry (FNLI), in order to develop a risk-based monitoring system as requested in EU Regulations EU 1332/2008 (food enzymes), 1333/2008 (food additives) and 1334/2008 (flavorings). Approach and Results: The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) performed a study in which the total dietary exposure to E150a, E150b, E150c and E150d was estimated by applying use levels provided by the food industry. Previously, exposure to E150 was estimated using maximum use levels linked to aggregated food categories (e.g. all beers, including blond beer, were assumed to contain the maximum reported use level of dark beer), which results in overestimates of exposure. Collection of use levels of foods present on the Dutch market allows refined linkage of these concentrations to foods on the food group level (e.g. use levels of kidney bean soup were linked to the consumption of ‘legume soup’ instead of to all foods belonging to the food category ‘soups and broths’) or even on food level (e.g. use levels of ‘speculaas’ were linked to the consumption of this food instead of all foods belonging to the food category ‘fine bakery wares’). When refining the exposure assessment in this way using food consumption data from the Dutch National Food Consumption Survey (DNFCS) 2007-2010, a lower and more realistic exposure estimate for E150 was obtained for the adult population aged 17-30 years compared with a recent EFSA exposure assessment. For children aged 2-6 years (DNFCS-young children), the exposure estimate was comparable to that obtained by EFSA. Conclusion: The cooperation between risk managers, exposure assessors and the food industry results in a win-win-situation for all parties by 1) providing a cost-effective approach for risk managers, 2) providing exposure assessors a reliable and representative data set and 3) providing a realistic estimate, which is important for both the government and the industry. The monitoring system may be used to assess exposure levels of additives and flavorings in other European Member States. It is recommended to explore the use of the monitoring system in the other Member States. The complete report can be downloaded for free from: http://www.rivm.nl/en/Documents_and_publications/Scientific/Reports/2014/mei/Refined_exposure _assessment_of_E150_food_colours_with_use_levels_provided_by_the_industry?sp=cXVlcnk9KE UxNTApO0lOTElCUkFSWT10cnVlO1NJVEVMQU5HVUFHRT1lbjtzZWFyY2hiYXNlPTA7c2VhcmN ocmFuZ2U9NTA7c2VhcmNoZXhwcmVzc2lvbj1TSVRFTEFOR1VBR0UgQU5EIElOTElCUkFSWSB BTkQgU0lURUxBTkdVQUdFO3NvcnRmaWVsZD1wdWJsaXNoZGF0ZTtzb3J0cmV2ZXJzZWQ9d HJ1ZTs=&query=E150&pagenr=1&result=rivmp%3A247860 Full report is also available as ‘Supplementary File’.

Refined Exposure Assessment of Smoke Flavoring Primary Products with Use Levels Provided by the Industry. A Pilot Study into Data Collection of Use Levels.

Aim: The study was performed on the initiative of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and the Federation of the Dutch Food and Grocery Industry (FNLI), in order to develop a risk-based monitoring system as requested in EU Regulations EU 1332/2008 (food enzymes), 1333/2008 (food additives) and 1334/2008 (flavorings). In this study, we explored the appropriateness of smoke flavor primary product use levels provided by the industry for refined exposure assessment of these substances. Approach and Results: Previously, exposure estimates were performed with aggregated food categories. In this study, use levels of smoke flavor primary products obtained from the industry were linked to individual food consumption data of children aged 2–6 years and of the population aged 7-69 years, using disaggregated food categories. The reported data were suitable for exposure assessment, provided that they were sufficiently representative for foods consumed in the Netherlands. To evaluate the method, the exposure assessment was performed for the total intake of all smoke flavor primary products. Therefore, the exposure estimates of the current study cannot be used for the risk assessment of individual smoke flavor primary products. Nevertheless, this would be possible with the current dataset using the method described in this report, provided that additional data on market shares of foods or of individual smoke flavor primary products are available. Conclusion: The exposure to smoke flavor primary products can be more accurately assessed using data obtained from the industry. The cooperation between risk managers, exposure assessors and the food industry results in a win-win-situation for all parties by 1) providing a costeffective approach for risk managers, 2) providing exposure assessors a reliable and representative data set and 3) providing a realistic estimate, which is important for both the government and the industry. The monitoring system may be used to assess exposure levels of additives and flavorings in other European Member States. It is recommended to explore the use of the monitoring system in other European Member States, with smoke flavoring primary products as a case study. The complete report can be downloaded for free from: http://www.rivm.nl/dsresource?objectid=rivmp:225311&type=org&disposition=inline Full report is also available as ‘Supplementary File’.

Grey Area Novel Foods: An Investigation into Criteria with Clear Boundaries.

In the European Union novel foods are defined by the Novel Foods Regulation as food products and food ingredients that have not been consumed to a significant degree in the European Union before May 1997. However, there are new foods for some reason not considered as novel foods, although it may not be excluded that they differ from conventional foods to such an extent that an assessment of their safety prior to their entry to the market would be called for. Previously, we reported that this ‘grey area’ of novel foods exists and comprises: (1) food products or ingredients for which the current Novel Foods Regulation leaves too much space for different interpretations and (2) food products or ingredients that are not novel according to the current Novel Foods Regulation because it contains gaps. This paper focuses on how to handle these interpretation differences and gaps and provides recommendations to improve these pitfalls of the current Novel Foods Regulation. To this end, we propose criteria with clear boundaries as part of an assessment tool to reduce the uncertainties in interpretation with respect to consumption to a significant degree in the European Union, which take into account the commercial availability, length, extent and frequency of use of the particular food/ingredient. In addition, biological relevant boundaries for the criteria regarding changes in the nutritional value, metabolism (better all aspects of absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion), and levels of undesirable substances are proposed for significant changes in the composition of foods due to changes in the production process. In addition, criteria are proposed to cover ambiguities and gaps in the Novel Foods Regulation dealing with food products and food ingredients obtained from 1) animals on a new feeding regime, 2) new varieties of organisms, 3) other growth stages of crops. Finally, a criterion that takes into account the total ingredient intake rather than single product intake is added to deal with the risk of overexposure to substances. Taken together, the proposed boundaries and criteria may contribute to diminishing the interpretation issues regarding the Novel Foods Regulation and thus to reducing the extent of the grey area of novel foods.