Food Law News - EU - 2001


FSA Letter, 17 May 2001

PARNUTS - Commission Directive 2001/15/EC of 15 February 2001 on Substances That May be Added for Specific Nutritional Purposes in Foods for Particular Nutritional Uses

Further to the FSA previous letter (
30 January 2001) reporting the outcome of discussions at the Standing Committee for Foodstuffs, the above directive has now been adopted and published in the Official Journal (OJ No. L52 of 22/2/2001 p19)

The directive lists the nutritional substances that may be added to foods for particular nutritional uses as defined by Directive 89/398/EEC (as amended), with the exception of infant formulae and follow-on formulae, and processed cereal-based foods and baby foods intended for infants and young children. Rules for these foods are laid down in the specific legislation which applies to them. Manufacturers of sports foods and foods for diabetics should note that their products are subject to the provisions of this directive, even though the scope of community legislation which will be developed for them in the future is, as yet, unclear.

The FSA have noted a number of discrepancies between the published text and the previous version which they are following up with the Commission and will report on as soon as possible. The differences appear in the Annex to the directive under category 3 (Amino acids) as follows:

The directive requires Member States to permit trade in products complying with the directive from 1 April 2002, and prohibit trade in non-compliant products by 1 April 2004. EU Member States are required to adopt measures to implement the provisions of the directive nationally by 31st March 2002; public consultation in the UK on draft implementing legislation will be undertaken in due course.


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