EC regulates smoke flavourings

The European Commission this week adopted a proposal to regulate smoke flavourings used or intended for use in or on foods.

The aim of the proposal was to establish procedures to assess the safety of smoke flavourings intended for use in foods, both to protect the health of consumers and also ensure fair trade practices.

The proposal falls within the scope of Council Directive 88/388/EEC on flavourings. Article 5 of this Directive covers the area ofsource materials used to produce smoke flavourings and reaction conditions under which they are prepared.

The proposal comes as part of the framework to improve Community legislation in thearea of foods, and was announced in the Commission's White Paper on Food Safety.

The current situation in the Member States concerning the authorisation of smoke flavouringsis diverse. Some Member States have a very strict authorisation procedure, while others have noneat all. It was therefore felt that there was a need for harmonisation at Community level.

Smoke flavourings are produced from condensed smoke. The chemical composition of smokeis complex, depending, among other things, on the species of wood used, the method used fordeveloping smoke, the water content of the wood and the temperature and oxygenconcentration during smoke generation. Smoked foods in general give rise to health concern.

The condensed smoke is, however, fractionated and purified during the production of smokeflavourings. Because of this purification process, the use of smoke flavourings is generallyconsidered to be of less health concern than the traditional smoking process.

A wide range of different smoke flavourings is produced from the purified primary smokecondensates. The Scientific Committee on Food (SCF) concluded in its report of 25 June1993 that the existing multitude of smoke flavourings is based on only a limited number ofcommercially available smoke condensates and that, therefore, the toxicological evaluationshould focus on the limited number of individual smoke condensates rather than on themultitude of derived smoke flavourings.

The present draft proposes to establish a safety assessment and authorisation procedure forprimary smoke condensates and primary tar fractions which can be used in and onfoods and/or for the production of derived smoke flavourings.

The primary products for whichno health concern is revealed during evaluation and their conditions of use will be included ina positive list of products authorised to the exclusion of all others in the Community.

Smoke flavourings for the Community market are produced by few companies inside andoutside of the EU. Each of these companies has a very limited number of primary products and itis estimated that not more than 20 products need to be evaluated.

For more information see europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/sfp/addit_flavor/flavourings/index_en.html​