Food Supplements Europe welcomes change in silicon dioxide, silicate limits

Source：Food Supplements Europe Release Date：2013-05-23 479

Food & Beverage

An error on the limits for silicon dioxide and silicate - compounds used as anti-caking agent and stabiliser - for food supplements is corrected, days before new Regulation takes effect

The publication this month of Regulation (EU) No 438/2013 amending the silicon dioxide and silicate limits in food supplements corrects an error that would otherwise have wiped off a number of food supplements in the EU market.

The error occurred when the additives in question were transposed into the new Regulation. It was spotted by members of Food Supplements Europe.

Whilst the level of silicon dioxide and silicates (E 551 - E 559) for food supplements was set in the original food additives legislation (Directive 95/2/EC) as Quantum satis, a regulation published in 2011 (Regulation 1129/2011) set a new maximum level of 1% in error, said the European trade association.

Silicon dioxide is used as both an anti-caking agent and a stabiliser, depending on the product type. Typically, usage levels exceed 1%.

‘We welcome the decision of the European Commission to correct the error,” said Ingrid Atteryd, Chair of the Swedish food supplements association F?reningen Svensk Egenv?rd and member of Food Supplements Europe. “We are pleased to see that the amendment was published before Regulation 1129/2011 takes effect on 1 June. The original version of the additives legislation is very clear in the Quantum satis level that is set for these additives in food supplements, and the new level limit was simply a drafting error. If this incorrect entry had remained in the additives legislation, once the transition period ended a large number of food supplements would have needed reformulation or been wiped off the market immediately.”

The new amending ReguAir Foamposite One