EC Safety Assessment

These days, both the safety and the regulation of food additives are controlled on an EC-wide basis.

Safety is all important and the first thing to be checked. Details of the extensive battery of tests that must be carried out on food additives to establish their safety are contained in a set of published guidelines (see the European Commission's Health and Consumer Protection website). The tests are complex and invariably conducted by commercial laboratories especially equipped for the purpose.

The interpretation of the test results and formal safety assessment (previously carried out by the EC’s Scientific Committee on Food) is now the responsibility of the newly established European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). It makes sure that all the tests have been carried out in accordance with the published guidelines. It also makes sure that the results and conclusions of the studies are scientifically valid. Even the most straightforward safety assessment can take some time, and it is not unusual for a complex case that requires new trials and additional data to take several years.

Further details of EFSA’s role in evaluating the safety of food additives can be found on its website.

At present, the safety of any additive can be reviewed again in the light of new toxicological data that might have become available. In future, the safety of all additives will be reviewed every 10 years as a matter of routine.

Safety is of course vital, but is not the only consideration. EC law also requires additive manufacturers to demonstrate that there is a genuine need for their product. Safety and need are the twin cornerstones of EC additive legislation. 

Information published within this web site is presented in good faith for consideration, investigation and verification. Whilst care has been taken to ensure accuracy, legal liability is excluded to the extent permitted in current legislation. No freedom from patent is implied.