The European Commission plans to promote the ban of additives that give a smoked flavor to dozens of foods on the market, as confirmed in writing to EL PAÍS by the General Directorate of Health and Food Safety of the Community Executive. The decision comes after the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) published last week several reports that warned of the risk of genotoxicity of these compoundsthe 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 these cannot be ruled out. For this reason, based on the opinions and in view of the security problems, the Commission will immediately start talks with the Member States of the European Union on [la retirada de] the authorizations of the flavorings in question,” explains Stefan de Keersmarcker, Commission spokesperson.
The measure does not affect foods that are subjected, in a traditional or industrial way, to the smoking process as a method of preservation or to give this characteristic flavor to the products -salmon, some sausages, cheeses…-, but rather those in which The aim is to achieve the same result with an additive, as occurs in some appetizers, processed foods, other sausages.…Sometimes these products are also labeled with barbecue flavor references.
Although this is not the Commission’s objective, 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 overusing these foods in a balanced diet—include expressions such as “beech wood smoke” among their ingredients, while the ingredient they contain must now stop being marketed. figure is very similar: “aroma of beech wood”, “aroma of smoke” or similar.
The EFSA published eight reports last week that warned about the safety problems of these additives. “Smoke aromas are added to foods (meats, fish or cheeses) as an alternative to the traditional smoking process. But they can also be used as flavorings in other foods such as soups, sauces, drinks, chips, edible ice cream and sweets,” the agency explained in a statement.
European legislation establishes that these compounds must demonstrate that they are safe before being marketed or, in the case of those that were already on the market, “before the end of the current authorization period.” This was the situation of the 10 smoke flavorings currently on the market, whose authorization expires on December 31.
The manufacturers had requested to renew the marketing permit of eight of them. The EFSA, reviewing all available evidence on their safety, has now concluded that “six of the smoke aromas evaluated contain genotoxic substances and therefore raise safety concerns, which cannot be ruled out for the other two.”
“Taking into account these conclusions of the EFSA, the Commission intends to reject the renewal of the authorizations of these smoke aromas. For each of them, the Commission will draw up an individual refusal decision,” now details the European Executive, which began negotiations with the Member States this Monday and foresees that “the withdrawal of smoke aromas from the EU market could take place in early 2024″.
Guillermo Repetto, professor of Toxicology at the Pablo de Olavide University in Seville, explains that genotoxicity is the “ability of an external agent, which can be a chemical substance or a virus, to alter the genetic material of cells and to produce “This has adverse effects on people’s health.” This expert highlights that, although the body has mechanisms to protect itself from these alterations, “sometimes they are not effective enough and mutations occur that the cells replicate and end up producing various types of cancer.”
The big difference between carcinogenic compounds and other substances, adds Repetto, is that “it is not possible to establish safe levels, below which there are no risks, which makes it necessary to eliminate all possible exposure of the population. them”.
The EFSA explains in the published information that it already analyzed these compounds between 2009 and 2012 and that it then “identified some safety problems for most of them due to their insufficient safety margin at the levels of use proposed” by the manufacturers. On that occasion, however, the Commission and the Member States did not opt for a ban on flavorings, but rather for “reviewing [a la baja] the levels proposed by manufacturers and authorize more limited use,” explains the agency. The new scientific evidence now studied, however, has led the EFSA to toughen its criteria and the Commission to make a radical change in its position.
For Repetto, it is not strange that these changes occur as “scientific knowledge advances, decision criteria adapt to it and we have greater evidence of the way in which these substances act in relation to the human metabolism.” According to EFSA, the evaluation system now used on additives has used “an updated methodology to evaluate the data submitted by applicants.” […] that were not available at the time of the first evaluation.” The new system provides that “if a single component of a complex group (such as smoke aromas) is confirmed to be genotoxic, the entire mixture should be considered genotoxic.”
Smoking is, along with sun drying and salting, one of the ancestral ways that humans developed to preserve meat and fish, although its use has subsequently become universal due to the characteristic flavor it gives to food. José Juan Rodríguez, professor in Food Safety at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), explains that this process “is carried out by burning wood, normally in the form of shavings, so that the smoke comes into contact with the product.” Beech wood is the most used for these purposes. “Other woods, such as pine and other resinous trees, produce toxic substances during combustion. Beech smoke, on the other hand, is neutral in this sense,” he adds.
The reason some companies turn to additives is because it simplifies and makes the process of giving food a smoky flavor easier and cheaper. According to EFSA, “most flavorings are produced from the thermal degradation (i.e. pyrolysis) of wood,” a process that generates byproducts that now have “genotoxic capacity.”
The Commission’s decision opens a new scenario in the sector. “Companies that used these additives will now have to develop new compounds that are safe or stop offering products with a smoked flavor,” predicts Rodríguez.
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