EC on sweeteners for use in foodstuffs - Main contents

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dossier	COM(2002)375 - Amendment of Directive 94/35/EC on sweeteners for use in foodstuffs.
document	COM(2002)375
date	December 22, 2003

(1) Directive 94/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 June 1994 on sweeteners for use in foodstuffs(5) lays down a list of sweeteners that may be used in the Community and their conditions of use.

(2) Since 1996, two new sweeteners, sucralose and the salt of aspartame and acesulfame, have been found acceptable for use in food by the Scientific Committee on Food.

(3) The opinion of the Scientific Committee on Food on cyclamic acid and its sodium and calcium salts (which led to the establishment of a new acceptable daily intake (ADI)) and recent studies on the intake of cyclamates lead to a reduction of the maximum usable doses of cyclamic acid and its sodium and calcium salts.

(4) The designation of certain food categories in Directive 94/35/EC should be adapted to take into account Directive 2002/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 June 2002 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to food supplements(6) and of specific directives adopted for some groups of foodstuffs listed in Annex I to Council Directive 89/398/EEC(7).

(5) The use of the food additives concerned complies with the general criteria laid down in Annex II to Directive 89/107/EEC.

(6) Articles 53 and 54 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety(8) establish procedures for taking emergency measures in relation to food of Community origin or imported from a third country. They allow the Commission to adopt such measures in situations where food is likely to constitute a serious risk to human health, animal health or the environment and where such risk cannot be contained satisfactorily by measures taken by the Member State(s) concerned.

(7) The measures necessary for implementation of Directive 94/35/EC should be adopted in accordance with Council Decision 1999/468/EC of 28 June 1999 laying down the procedures for the exercise of implementing powers conferred on the Commission(9).

(8) Directive 94/35/EC should therefore be amended accordingly.