DH Letter, 1 July 2011
A copy of this letter, including the Commission’s proposal mentioned below, is available on this site. See: Commission’s Proposal for additional substances for vitamins and minerals
As many of you will be aware, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued favourable opinions on the use of the following substances since the relevant lists of vitamins and minerals were last updated:
In food supplements -
In fortified foods -
In Foods for Particular Nutritional Uses (Parnuts) –
The EFSA opinions can be found on the EFSA website at http://www.efsa.europa.eu
The European Commission has now produced a draft regulation with a view to adding the above substances to the legislation, which lists permitted vitamin and mineral sources in food supplements, fortified foods, and foods for particular nutritional uses. The draft regulation is expected to be presented for an opinion at the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) at its meeting on 11 July 2011. A copy of the draft EU Regulation is annexed to this letter.
If a qualified majority of Member States vote to support the draft regulation, the proposal will be submitted to the European Parliament for scrutiny. If the regulation is successfully adopted it will enter into force on the 20th day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
National regulations that implement the EU food supplements, fortified food and Parnuts legislation contain ‘ambulatory’ references, which give automatic effect in national law to EU amendments to the lists of permitted vitamin and mineral sources. This will allow UK businesses to use the new mineral sources in product formulations from the date which the EC legislation enters into force. As national Regulations are not required to implement amendments to those lists, we will continue writing to stakeholders at appropriate points in the European process to keep you informed of developments.