Nutrient source SOS fired by NAHS
industry plea to help save scores of vitamins and minerals
which run the risk of being slapped with a negative opinion by the
European Food Safety Authority.
NAHS submitted nearly 200 brief dossiers to achieve derogation under an annex of the Food Supplements Directive, which called for safety dossiers to be filed on nutrient sources. The nutrients were given derogation by the Food Standards Agency and were allowed to stay on the market until full reports were compiled and filed to EFSA. The initial derogation in the UK was applied for by NAHS as a safety net for specialty supplements, to make sure if they used the ingredients contained in the one-page dossiers they could remain on the market. But NAHS does not have the resources to complete more in-depth dossiers and is calling on industry to step in. Executive director at NAHS John McKee said: "The initial purpose of the swathes of dossiers submitted was purely to achieve derogations for speciality supplements within the UK. McKee told NutraIngredients that the nutrients may not be commercially important - but added it is almost impossible to tell if they are used as ingredients in the EU or US markets. He said: "However, as the EFSA has struggled to get to grips with its workload the pressure to inform them that these dossiers will not be beefed up to the desired standard has grown. "The NAHS submitted more dossiers for derogation than any other entity in the EU and the intention was never that we, as a small organisation, would have the resources to develop any of them further. "The goal was simply to ensure that these specialist ingredients could legitimately remain on the market until December 2009." Earlier this year NAHS withdrew 70 dossiers as a sign of good faith to allow EFSA to focus on the core of 50 substantial dossiers co-ordinated by the Health Food Manufacturers Association (HFMA). Now NAHS said they have been told that unless the dossiers are enhanced to the appropriate standard there is a risk of a negative opinion by EFSA, which would lead to the derogation for that substance being withdrawn. The list of some 60 minerals included calcium arginate, copper acetate, iron ketoglutarate, and magnesium glutamate. If companies do not come forward NAHS will have to withdraw the dossiers. For the full list of substance go to www.nahs.co.uk.
