Food enzymes

The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety adopted a report drafted by Avril DOYLE (EPP-ED, IE) recommending some amendments to the Council's common position for adopting a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on food enzymes and amending Council Directive 83/417/EEC, Council Regulation (EC) No 1493/1999, Directive 2000/13/EC, Council Directive 2001/112/EC and Regulation (EC) No 258/97. It reinserted some amendments from 1st reading that had not been taken up by the Council in its common position. The main amendments are as follows:

- the committee inserted a definitions for "quantum satis";

- the precautionary principle should be part of any assessment;

- the committee clarified the notion of misleading the consumer. This includes, but is not limited to, issues related to the nature, freshness and quality of ingredients used, the naturalness of a product or of the production process, or the nutritional quality of the product;

- a clear benefit for the consumer must be a central requirement in the authorisation process for food enzymes;

- any GM product used for the production of a food enzyme already approved in the EU in accordance with the Regulation on Enzymes must also be approved in accordance with Regulation 1829/2003;

- in terms of labelling requirements, the committee stated that the wording 'a sales description which includes the name of each food enzyme' is not clear and should be replaced by the nomenclature of the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (IUBMB). The Committee also felt that the Council's position on GM labelling is not satisfactory. It inserted an amendment in order to introduce clearer labelling where a food enzyme product contains or was produced from genetically modified organisms.