FSA Consultation Letter, 28 June 2004

ADDITIVES - Consultation on draft regulations laying down specific purity criteria on food additives other than colours and sweeteners

The FSA has preapred draft Regulations which will amend the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995 to implement Commission Directives 2003/95/EC and 2004/45/EC in England. Responses are requested by: 17 September 2004

Consultation details

Commission Directive 96/77/EC lays down specific purity criteria for food additives other than colours and sweeteners (referred to in UK legislation as miscellaneous food additives) throughout the EU. It has been amended on four previous occasions. It contains details of the specific purity criteria for food additives permitted by European Parliament and Council Directive 95/2/EC on food additives other than colours and sweeteners.

Directive 2003/95/EC

Directive 2003/95/EC of 27 October 2003, which was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (L 283) on 31 October 2003, amends Directive 96/77/EC for the fifth time. Changes are as follows:

• The existing purity criteria for E 251 (sodium nitrite) and E 459 (beta-cyclodextrin) have been amended to take account of technical progress by permitting liquid sodium nitrite to be produced by an additional manufacturing process and beta-cyclodextrin to be manufactured from an additional source.
• In response to the SCF opinion on 6 May 2002 on ethylene oxide residues in food additives, a new limit of 0.2 mg/kg for ethylene oxide has been included in the specific purity criteria for E431 – 436 (polysorbates) and polyethylene glycol 6000.
  

Directive 2004/45/EC

Directive 2004/45/EC of 16 April 2004, which was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (L 113) on 20 April 2004, amends Directive 96/77/EC for the sixth time. Changes are as follows:

• The specifications have been amended to take account of the SCF opinion on carrageenan, expressed on 5 March 2003. The specifications for E407 (carrageenan) and E407a (processed eucheuma seaweed) now limit the level of low molecular weight carrageenan to not more than 5%.
• The minimum Ash content for E407a (processed eucheuma seaweed) has been increased to 15%.
• New specifications have been included for three additives, E907 (hydrogenated poly-1-decene), E1517 (glyceryl diacetate) and E1519 (benzyl alcohol) which have recently been evaluated for safety by the SCF. Provisions authorising the use of these additives have been included in European Parliament and Council Directive 2003/114/EC amending Directive 95/2/EC on food additives other than colours and sweeteners. Draft regulations which will also amend the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995 to implement Directive 2003/114/EC into national law will be circulated separately for comment.
  

The proposed regulations

The Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995 have been amended five times (in 1997, 1999, 2001 (twice) and 2003) to implement Directive 96/77/EC and four subsequent amendments. The draft Miscellaneous Food Additives (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2004 will implement the provisions of Directives 2003/95/EC and 2004/45/EC in England.

Member States are required to implement the provisions of Directives 2003/95/EC and 2004/45/EC into national legislation before 1 November 2004 and 1 April 2005 respectively. It is planned that the new regulations will come into force in England on 29 October 2004.