European Food Safety Agency reassesses the safe dosage of seven food colorants

As a result of reservations about the data submitted by the industry, the European Food Safety Agency recommends a reassessment of the safe use level of seven food colorants commonly used in member countries The proposal has a wide range of impacts, as these colorants are widely used in the EU and are used in a variety of different types of food, including dairy products, fats and oils, edible ice, grains, candy and meat, and beverages Seven colorants belong to chemical groups 25 and 30 of Annex 1 to regulation (EU) no 1565 / 2000 They include three flavanones (fl-no 16.058 (a glycoside) 16.083 and 16.097) and four dihydrochalcone (fl-no 16.061, 16.109, 16.110 and 16.112) One of the colorants, naringin (16.058), is naturally found in citrus fruits, especially grape fruits, and potato skins (8-42mg / kg) Hesperidin (16.097) is a major flavone glycoside in oranges Phloretin (16.109) is a phloretin produced in apples (80-420mg / kg in apple peel) and strawberries (2-5mg / kg) The remaining four flavonoids, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (16.061) and naringin dihydrochalcone (16.110), are unnaturally present in food, the food additives group cited industry statements However, sodium salt 16.083 has been confirmed to be present in C The EFSA scientific group on food contact materials, enzymes, colorants and processing aids used the MSDI method (to investigate the maximum allowable daily intake) to assess the daily safe intake level of food colorants in Europe According to the EFSA report, according to the default MSDI method, seven food colorants will not cause safety problems according to the estimated intake level According to the default MSDI method of EFSA, the allowable daily intake of three flavanones as colorants per person is 0.61-280mg, which is lower than the critical value of 540mg Two of the four dihydrochalcone groups (16.061 and 16.109) were allowed to take 12 and 61 mg daily, respectively, which was 90 mg lower than the critical value However, the scientific group of food contact materials, enzymes, colorants and processing aids examined the information provided by the European condiment Association on the use of colorants in food and concluded that MSDI method significantly underestimated the intake level of normal consumers in many cases Therefore, the team has reservations about the data of the use level of color agents and the intake level estimated by MSDI method In the absence of more accurate information, it is impossible to make a more realistic assessment of the intake of colorants Therefore, the team decided to use the more conservative mtamdi (modified theoretical weighted maximum daily intake) method to estimate the daily intake level of each person based on the overall upper limit level reported by the seasoning food and beverage industry This method shows that the current intake level may be too high The team did not choose to conduct a formal safety assessment using this method, which requires "more accurate use and use level data" The European condiment Association said more time was needed to study the opinion, so no response has been made For more information, please refer to: http://www.foodnavigator.com/legislation/efsa-calls-for-more-data-before-decision-on-flags-safety