Scientific Committees Scientific Committee on Food Outcome of discussions

Minutes of the 124 ^th Plenary Meeting of the Scientific Committee on Food held on 21 - 22 November 2000 in Brussels

ATTENDANCE LIST LISTE DES PARTICIPANTS TEILNEHMERLISTE

Members/Membres/Mitglieder

Mrs. S. BARLOW, Mr. D. BOSKOU, A. CARERE, I. ELMADFA (2 ^nd Vice-chairman, Vice President, Stellv. Vorsitzender), Mrs. A. FERRO-LUZZI, Mr. A. FLYNN (present on 21/11), W. GRUNOW, Mrs. A. KNAAP (1 ^st Vice-chairman, Vice President, Stellv. Vorsitzender), Mr. I. KNUDSEN (Chairman, President, Vorsitzender), S. LINDGREN, B. MOSELEY, K.-H. NAU (present on 21/11), A. PALOU, W. SARIS (present on 21/11), P. TOBBACK, P. VERGER, J.-M. WAL, R. WALKER

Experts:

J.C. LARSEN (present on 21/11)

Apologies for absence:

R. FRIES

Commission/Kommission

Mr. R. BATES (DG Fishery), Mr. S. BØWADT (DG Research) (present on 21/11), Mr. J. BRODERSEN (DG Health and Consumer Protection) (present on 21/11), Mrs. A. NADAS (DG Health and Consumer Protection) (present on 21/11), Mrs. S. POTTIE (DG Health and Consumer Protection) (present on 21/11), Mr. H. SIEGL (DG Enterprise), Mr. F. VERSTRAETE (DG Health and Consumer Protection) (present on 21/11)

Secretariat/Secrétariat/Sekretariat (DG Health and Consumer Protection)

Mr. M.A. GRANERO ROSELL, D. PETTAUER, D. LIEM, M. ROMARÍS, Mrs. H. PEDERSEN

1. Apologies for absence

The apologies were noted.

2. Adoption of the agenda

The agenda was adopted.

3. Declarations of interest

No declarations were made.

4. Adoption of the minutes of the 123 ^rd plenary meeting of 16-19 0ctober 2000

The minutes were adopted.

5. Matters arising since 123 ^rd plenary meeting

In relation to the opinion on fumonisin B ₁ adopted during the last plenary meeting Prof. Carere informed the Committee on the results of a recent paper on genotoxicity of fumonisin B ₁ (Aranda et al. (2000), Mutagenesis, 15, no. 6, pp. 469 - 471). The paper confirms that fumonisin B ₁ is negative in Salmonella tests and shows a weak non-dose related increase (less than two-fold) in the frequency of micronuclei in bone marrow cells of mice treated i.p. at 25 and 100 mg/kg bw. According to the authors the weak genotoxic activity is likely to be a secondary effect. The Committee agreed that the results of this paper do not change the overall conclusion of the opinion adopted by the SCF at the 123 ^rd plenary meeting.

6. General information from the Commission services

The Secretariat informed the Committee that the Commission has adopted its proposal for a Regulation laying down the general principles of food law, including the establishment of the European Food Authority (EFA). The comments received during the public consultation period are available on the DG SANCO homepage.

7. Contaminants

7.1. Risk assessment of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in food - Draft opinion

At the last plenary meeting the Committee had discussed the previous draft opinion and had identified a number of issues that required further detailed consideration. It therefore decided that a group consisting of some SCF members and some experts of the task force should address the remaining issues.

The chair of the Task Force on Dioxins explained that the present draft opinion was prepared following further consideration as requested by the Committee in two additional meetings. She presented the major changes introduced in the document by the drafting group. The Committee discussed and adopted the text as revised during the meeting. It was agreed that additional editorial changes recorded by the Secretariat during the discussion would be introduced in the final version.

The chairman and the other members of the SCF congratulated the chair of the task force to the excellent presentation of the draft document and for the effective guidance during the discussions. The Committee acknowledged the remarkable effort by the members of the task force in preparing such a comprehensive assessment, and also appreciated the quality of the work done.

The Committee adopted the opinion that appears as Annex I to these minutes.

8. Upper levels for vitamins and minerals

The Committee had the opportunity to check the final versions of the opinions on Upper Levels adopted at the previous plenary before publication.

8.1. - Draft opinion on the upper level for vitamin B ₂

At the last plenary meeting a number of studies on Vitamin B ₂ had been identified that needed detailed consideration. The rapporteur presented the updated draft, which included the consideration of additional information. The Committee amended the draft during the meeting and adopted the revised text.

The full text of the opinion appears as Annex II to these minutes.

9. Food contact materials

9.1. - Update of the SCF guidelines for the evaluation of food contact materials of 1990: Draft "Presentation of an application for assessment of a substance to be used in food contact materials prior to its authorisation"

The chair of the SCF Working Group on Food Contact Materials introduced the draft document. She reported that this update had been elaborated in close co-ordination with the revision of the guidelines on food additives (see item 10.), in particular when defining the mutagenicity studies required in the data set. The document was adopted pending inclusion of the changes introduced during the discussion.

The full text of the opinion appears as Annex III to these minutes.

10. Additives

10.1. - Updating of the existing guidelines (1992): Draft guidance on submissions for food additive evaluations by the SCF

The item was not discussed.

11. Any other business

No other business was discussed.

(The text of the opinions adopted in these annexes appear in the section outcome/opinions of the webpages of the SCF on the Internet, not in the section outcome/minutes).

I. Opinion on the risk assessment of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in food

(SCF/CS/CNTM/DIOXIN/8 FINAL)

II. Opinion on the Tolerable Upper Intake Level for vitamin B ₂

(SCF/CS/NUT/UPPLEV/33 FINAL)

III. Opinion on guidelines on the presentation of an application for assessment of the safety of a substance to be used in food contact materials prior to its authorisation

(SCF/CS/PLEN/GEN/90 FINAL)

Scientific Committees Scientific Committee on Food Outcome of discussions
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