The European Commission plans to promote the ban on additives that give a smoky taste to dozens of foods on the market, the General Directorate of Health and Food Safety of the local government has confirmed in writing to EL PAÍS. The decision comes after the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) published several reports last week warning of the risk of these compounds of genotoxicity, that is, the ability to damage the genetic material of the cells of the human body and cause cancer .
“EFSA has concluded that there are genotoxicity problems with these substances or that they cannot be ruled out. For this reason, on the basis of the opinions and in view of the security problems, the Commission will immediately start discussions with the Member States of the European Union [la retirada de] the approvals of the flavors in question,” explains Stefan de Keersmarcker, spokesman for the Commission.
The measure does not concern foods that are subjected to the smoking process in a traditional or industrial way in order to preserve them or to give the products that characteristic taste (salmon, some sausages, cheese, etc.), but rather those that are involved an additive to achieve the same result as occurs with some starters, ready meals, other sausages… Sometimes these products are also labeled with references to grilled flavor.
Although this is not the aim of the Commission, this step will put an end to a situation in which it is not easy for the consumer to distinguish between one product and another, as this newspaper has seen. Smoked products – which are safe, although nutritional recommendations advise against abusing these foods as part of a balanced diet – contain expressions such as “beech wood smoke” in their ingredients, while the ingredient they contain is now no longer allowed to be marketed. The illustration is very similar: “Aroma of beech wood”, “Aroma of smoke” or similar.
Last week, EFSA published eight reports warning about the safety problems of these additives. “As an alternative to the traditional smoking process, smoke flavors are added to foods (meat, fish or cheese). But they can also be used as flavorings in other foods such as soups, sauces, drinks, chips, ice cream and sweets,” the agency said in a statement.
European legislation stipulates that these compounds must demonstrate their safety before marketing or, in the case of those that were already on the market, “before the end of the current authorization period”. This was the case with the ten smoke flavors currently on the market, whose approval expires on December 31st.
The manufacturers had applied for the renewal of the marketing authorization for eight of them. After reviewing all available evidence on their safety, the EFSA has now concluded that “six of the smoke flavors assessed contain genotoxic substances and therefore raise safety concerns that cannot be ruled out for the other two.”
“Taking into account these conclusions of EFSA, the Commission intends to refuse to renew the authorizations of these smoke flavors. The Commission will draw up an individual rejection decision for each of them,” explains the European executive, which started negotiations with the member states this Monday and assumes that “the withdrawal of smoke flavors from the EU market could take place at the beginning of 2024. “ ″.
Guillermo Repetto, professor of toxicology at the University of Pablo de Olavide in Seville, explains that genotoxicity is the “ability of an external agent, which can be a chemical substance or a virus, to modify the genetic material of cells and produce negative effects.” on people’s health.” This expert emphasizes that although the body has mechanisms to protect itself from these changes, “sometimes they are not effective enough and mutations occur that cause the cells to multiply and end up producing different types of cancer.”
The big difference between carcinogenic compounds and other substances, Repetto adds, is that “it is not possible to establish safe levels below which there are no risks, which makes it necessary to exclude any possible exposure of the population.”
EFSA explains in the published information that it had already analyzed these compounds between 2009 and 2012 and that it then “identified some safety issues for most of them due to their insufficient safety margin at the use levels proposed by the manufacturers”. On this occasion, however, the Commission and the Member States did not opt for a flavor ban, but for a “review”. [a la baja] the values proposed by the manufacturers and authorize a more limited use,” explains the agency. However, the new scientific findings now being examined have led to the EFSA tightening its criteria and the Commission to radically change its position.
For Repetto, it is not surprising that these changes will occur as “scientific knowledge advances, decision-making criteria adapt and we have more evidence on how these substances work in relation to human metabolism.” According to the EFSA, this is now used for Additives used evaluation system “an updated methodology for evaluating the data submitted by applicants”. […] which were not available at the time of the initial evaluation.” The new system provides that “if a single component of a complex group (e.g. smoke flavors) is found to be genotoxic, the entire mixture should be considered genotoxic.”
Smoking, along with sun drying and salting, is one of the ancient methods developed by man to preserve meat and fish, although its use later became universal due to the characteristic flavor it imparts to dishes. José Juan Rodríguez, professor of food safety at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), explains that this process “is carried out by burning wood, usually in the form of chips, so that the smoke comes into contact with the product.” For Beech wood is most often used for these purposes. “Other woods such as pine and other resinous trees produce toxic substances when burned. Beech smoke, on the other hand, is neutral in this sense,” he adds.
The reason some companies turn to additives is because they make the process of adding a smoky flavor to foods easier and less expensive. According to EFSA, “most flavors are produced through the thermal degradation (i.e. pyrolysis) of wood,” a process that produces by-products that now have “genotoxic effects.”
The Commission’s decision opens a new scenario for the sector. “Companies that have used these additives must now develop new compounds that are safe or stop offering smoke-flavored products,” Rodríguez predicts.
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