FOOD ADDITIVES: SOME GLOBAL AND REGIONAL ISSUES

DR. P. VINCENT HEGARTY

Founding Director and Professor Emeritus

INSTITUTE for FOOD LAWS and REGULATIONS

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY, USA

vhegarty@msu.edu

1st ARAB CONFERENCE: “REGULATORY CONTROL ON FOOD, DRUGS AND MEDICAL DEVICES” Egypt, April 2013

WHY SHOULD FOOD ADDITIVES / FOOD CONTACT MATERIALS BE REGULATED?

• PROTECT PUBLIC HEALTH

• INFORM THE CONSUMER

• PROTECT AGAINST FRAUD

• ASSURE FAIR TRADE PRACTICES

• PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT

EU: NOTIFICATIONS BY HAZARD (2010) http://ec.europa.eu/food/food/rapidalert/docs/resff_annual_report_2010_en.pdf

• 680 MYCOTOXINS

• 549 PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISMS

• 284 PESTICIDE RESIDUES

• 251 HEAVY METALS

• 170 FOOD ADDITIVES and FLAVOURINGS • 137 FOREIGN BODIES

• 108 NON-PATHOGENIC MICROORGANISMS

• 106 GMO/NOVEL FOOD

• 87 ADULTERATION/FRAUD

• 67 ALLERGENS

• 51 PACKAGING DEFECTIVE/INCORRECT • 29 LABELLING ABSENT/INCOMPLETE/INCORRECT

Food Contact Legislation in

Global and Emerging Markets

Vincent Hegarty

CODEX DOCUMENTS

AVAILABLE ON INTERNET --- 1

YEAR of REPORTS

CCFA: China. 2012 and 2013

www.codexalimentarius.org/download/report/775/REP12_FAe.pdf www.codexalimentarius.org/download/report/796/REP13_FAe.pdf

ARAB COUNTRIES ATTENDING:

2012 2013

ALGERIA EGYPT

EGYPT KUWAIT

OMAN MOROCCO

SAUDI ARABIA QATAR

SUDAN SAUDI ARABIA

SUDAN

CODEX GENERAL STANDARD FOR FOOD ADDITIVES (GSFA) (Codex STAN 192-1995)

• INFORMATION FOR FOODS BUT NOT FOR FOOD CONTACT MATERIALS (PACKAGING).

• FOODS IN WHICH ADDITIVES MAY BE USED:

1. Dairy products and analogues

2. Fats and oils, and fat emulsions

3. Edible ices

4. Fruits and vegetables

5. Confectionery

6. Cereals and cereal products

GSFA (Continued:

7. Bakery wares

8. Meat and meat products

9. Fish and fish products

10. Eggs and egg products

11. Sweeteners, including honey

12. Salts, spices, soups, sauces, salads, and protein products

13. Foodstuffs for particular nutritional uses

14. Beverages, excluding dairy products

15. Ready-to-eat savouries

16. Prepared foods

And most of the above foods are PACKAGED --- where are the regulations?

CCFA: Hangzhou, China March 12-16, 2012

www.codexalimentarius.org/download/report/775/REP12_FAe.pdf

• SOME OUTCOMES:

• Draft revision of the Standard for Food Grade Salt

• Proposed draft Specifications for the Identity and Purity of Additives

• Risk Analysis Principles Applied by the CCFA

• Commodity committees to submit technological justification with their proposals for endorsement

CCFA: SOME AGENDA ITEMS Beijing, China, March 18-

22, 2013 www.codexalimentarius.org/download/report/796/fa45_01e.pdf

• Aluminium containing food additives of the GFSA

• Aspartame – acesulfame salt

• Nisin in meat and meat products

• Priority List of Food Additives

• Colours for re-evaluation by JECFA

• Food additive provisions in commodity standards

FOOD ADDITIVES – CODEX – RISK ANALYSIS www.codexalimentarius.org/download/report/775/REP12_FAe.pdf

• CCFA and JECFA (Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives) ---

continuous interaction between risk assessors and risk managers is critical

• Contributions to the risk analysis process involve all interested parties and

are fully transparent and thoroughly documented.

• CCFA shall base its risk management recommendations to the CAC on

JECFA’s risk assessments ….

• JECFA’s scientific experts should be selected on the basis of their

competence and independence, taking into account geographical

representation to ensure that all regions are represented.

SOME RECENT JECFA ACTIVITIES

• JECFA decisions are mostly professional judgments based on reviews of published and unpublished data

• “Project to update the principles and methods for the assessment of chemicals in food” www.who.int/foodsafety/chem/principles/en/index1.html

• “Request to provide latest national individual food consumption data into the new templates for acute and chronic exposure assessment” www.who.int/foodsafety/consumption_call/en/index.html

• Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Dietary Exposure Assessment Methodologies for Residues of Veterinary Drugs” www.who.int/foodsafety/chem/jecfa/vet_drugs/en/index.html

“FOOD ADDITIVE”: DEFINITION

CONTAINS THE WORDS “PACKING,” “PACKAGING”

• CODEX ALIMENTARIUS YES • UNITED STATES YES • EUROPEAN UNION YES • INDIA YES • CANADA NO • CHINA NO

• AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND NO

COMMENTS ON PREVIOUS SLIDES:

• How uniform and up-to-date are our global regulations of food additives, including food contact materials (packaging)?

• If a country does not regulate food contact materials as a “food additive” then where/how are they regulated?

• Food companies use “least cost formulation” --- do all countries listed in previous slide have harmonized food additive/packaging regulations?

• How good is traceability in the event of a problem?

• Is the use of food contact materials increasing in YOUR country? Are they produced by many small to medium sized companies? Are these regulated/inspected?

SOME QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS:

> 10,000 chemicals can be added directly or indirectly to food (U.S. Food Additives Amendment Act, 1958) (For details see: www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_detail.aspx?id=1203

• How many of the 10,000 chemicals have undergone toxicological testing?

• Are standards for the identity and purity of additives applied appropriately , consistently and standardized for all countries?

• Are national food laws and regulations for food additives updated regularly and applied effectively by all countries?

• Unfortunately, laws and regulations for packaging are in their infancy in some countries and non-existent in others.

INDIA: LARGE PRODUCER and EXPORTER of FOOD PACKAGING MATERIAL

“….. existing regulations governing the packaging industry are obsolete, partly because of the narrow focus of these regulations and partly because they fail to take into account technological change and the rapid growth in the variety of foods that are now being packaged.”

Divya Satija, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) April 15, 2010

www.icrier.org/page.asp?MenuID=24&SubCatID=177&SubSubCatID=731

BISPHENOL A (BPA): BRIEF HISTORY www.packagingdigest.com/article/print/522115-History_of_BPA.php

• 1891 Synthesized --- Russia

• 1905 First mentioned in a scientific paper --- Germany

• 1930s BPA recognized as an artificial estrogen --- United Kingdom

• 1950s BPA in polycarbonate (PC) consumer products --- worldwide

• 1960s US FDA approves BPA for PC water bottles, baby bottles, food containers and epoxy linings for metal-based food and beverage cans

• 1990s BPA linked to a number of health effects

• 2012 US FDA --- no ban on BPA for food and beverage packaging

France --- ban on BPA on all food containers by January 1, 2014

BPA: HEALTH / MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS

POSITIONS (as of March 2013):

• WHO EXPERT MEETING: “For many end-points, points of departure are much higher than human exposure. Hence, there is no health concern for these end-points.”

www.who.int/foodsafety/chem/chemicals/BPA_Summary2010.pdf

• AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: “We need more science-based research on BPA including development and use of safe, non-harmful alternatives to BPA ……”

www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/csaph/health-tips-bisphenol-a.pdf

• CANADIAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: “… Overall, Health Canada advises that the public should not be concerned about BPA. Aside from polycarbonate baby bottles, all other plastic containers can continue to be used safely.” www.cma.ca/index.php?ci_id=86519&1a_id=1

No, those aren’t my diplomas.

Nature

Biotechnology,

Vol. 17,

May 1999

FOOD LAWS & REGULATIONS

GOVERNMENT

Create/Monitor

CONSUMERS

FOOD INDUSTRY

Implement

UNIVERSITIES

Analyze/Educate

All courses

United States

*

European Union

*

Canada

*

Latin America

*

Middle East

*

Asia

*

International

Food Laws

Codex

Alimentarius

*

OIE

(World

Organisation

for Animal

Health

*

IPPC

(International

Plant

Protection

Convention)

Winner 2003 ADEC National Excellence in Distance Education Award

SHOKRAN

THANK YOU

GO RAIBH MAITH AGAIBH