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The European Commission (EC) announced on October 8, 2021, that the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed approved the EC’s proposal to ban the use of titanium dioxide (E171) as a food additive. The EC states that its proposal “is based on a scientific opinion by the European Food Safety Authority, which concluded…

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a Scientific Opinion entitled “Safety assessment of the substance silver nanoparticles for use in food contact materials.” The EFSA Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes and Processing Aids (CEP) assessed the safety of the additive silver nanoparticles intended to be used in plastics. All the silver…

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has updated its “Guidance on risk assessment of nanomaterials to be applied in the food and feed chain: human and animal health.” The updated guidance, published on August 3, 2021, covers the application areas within EFSA’s remit, including novel foods, food contact materials, food and feed additives,…

On May 6, 2021, the European Food Safety Association (EFSA) announced that E171 is no longer considered safe when used as a food additive.  The European Commission (EC) asked EFSA to update its safety assessment of the food additive titanium dioxide (E171).  EFSA states:  “Taking into account all available scientific studies and data, the Panel…

On November 19, 2020, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published a report entitled “Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) of the application of nanoscience and nanotechnology in the food and feed chain.”  The authors analyzed existing ERA guidance documents for their adequacy to cover issues that are specific for nanomaterials, but note that none…

On September 15, 2020, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) called for grant proposals on the use of new approach methodologies (NAM) for the hazard assessment of cellulose nanofibers.  EFSA states that the use of cellulose at the nanoscale is increasing and requires an assessment.  According to EFSA, the main concern is that the nanoscale…

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has begun a public consultation on a draft document entitled “EFSA Guidance on Technical Requirements for Regulated Food and Feed Product Applications to Establish the Presence of Small Particles Including Nanoparticles.”  The draft Guidance sets out information requirements for applications in the regulated food and feed product areas and…

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has announced a call for abstract submissions for oral presentations, posters, and poster pitches at its colloquium on “A coordinated approach to assess the human health risks of micro- and nanoplastics in food,” which will be held in Lisbon on June 8-9, 2020.  EFSA states that…

On July 12, 2019, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published in the EFSA Journal its “Scientific opinion on the proposed amendment of the EU specifications for titanium dioxide (E 171) with respect to the inclusion of additional parameters related to its particle size distribution.”  The opinion addresses the assessment of data provided…

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) held a stakeholder workshop on April 1-2, 2019, on the implementation of its guidance on the risk assessment of applications of nanosciences and nanotechnologies in the food and feed chain.  As reported in our July 5, 2018, blog item, “EFSA Publishes New Guidance on Nanotechnologies in Food and…