Committee
Health and Community Care Committee, 14 Oct 1999
14 Oct 1999 · S1 · Health and Community Care Committee
Item of business
Food Additives
Stephen Rooke:
Watch on SPTV
E 445 is glycerol esters of wood rosin. It is a preservative and already permitted for use as a surface treatment of citrus fruits and as a non-alcoholic, flavoured cloudy drinks additive—it gives the cloudiness in cloudy lemonade.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
LD
From the Scottish Executive, we welcome Stephen Rooke, who is head of the food safety unit, and Marion Baldry, who is a policy analyst on food safety. They w...
Stephen Rooke (Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department):
Thank you. As this is the first opportunity that we have had to explain what is going on with additives and directives, we thought that it might be helpful t...
The Convener:
LD
Thank you, Stephen. We are talking about food additives, and there is general concern about the public health implications of the food that we eat. Questions...
Stephen Rooke:
Often the industry has asked for the additives, or extensions of additives approved for other uses, to be approved. In this case, our assessment is that as i...
The Convener:
LD
However, the consultation exercise is continuing and we are part of it.
Stephen Rooke:
Yes. The views of the committee are part of the exercise, and we will feed them into the negotiations at Brussels.
Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
The end date of the consultation exercise is 26 October. I was led to believe that we had to come to a conclusion before that.
The Convener:
LD
We have to pass our views to the European Committee, because it is putting forward the Parliament's point of view. It meets on 19 October.
Kay Ullrich:
SNP
Although the consultation exercise will not end until 26 October.
The Convener:
LD
The European consultation exercise will not finish until 26 October, so the Parliament can comment. We had to give our comments to the European Committee bef...
Kay Ullrich:
SNP
In that case, we cannot have a copy of the responses because the consultation is not finished yet.
The Convener:
LD
We are part of the consultation exercise. We can make sure that when the responses are finalised, the committee is sent a copy or is informed in some other w...
Stephen Rooke:
E 445 is glycerol esters of wood rosin. It is a preservative and already permitted for use as a surface treatment of citrus fruits and as a non-alcoholic, fl...
Kay Ullrich:
SNP
I was trying to think of a cloudy drink—thank you.
Stephen Rooke:
In this case, a German spirit drinks company has asked for that to be included in a proposal so that it can make some of its alcoholic drinks cloudy—in addit...
Dorothy-Grace Elder (Glasgow) (SNP):
SNP
A fashion for cloudy beer has started.
Stephen Rooke:
I think that beer is seen as being more natural if it is cloudy.
The Convener:
LD
Dorothy is obviously the committee expert on cloudy alcoholic drinks.
Kay Ullrich:
SNP
My drinking habits must be old-fashioned.
The Convener:
LD
I like to see clearly through my drinks—at least at the beginning of the evening.
Stephen Rooke:
That additive is already approved. The company is asking for its use to be extended into another category of foodstuffs. E 650, zinc acetate, gives a bittern...
Dorothy-Grace Elder:
SNP
Acceptable for whom? Some people are constant chewers of gum; others might have only one wad of gum a week.
Stephen Rooke:
Assessments are based on a worst case scenario. A population reference intake and a lowest threshold intake are taken into account. Age group and the lactati...
The Convener:
LD
Would it be fair to say that such an analysis would have been done on any food additives that the committee might come across?
Stephen Rooke:
That is right. The scientific committee on food examines the most exposed group of the population.
Kay Ullrich:
SNP
When you say chewing gum, are you talking about Nicorette chewing gum, which might be used by someone who was trying to give up cigarettes? I think that more...
Stephen Rooke:
The proposal refers only to chewing gum and the use of zinc acetate as a flavour enhancer.
Kay Ullrich:
SNP
If someone substitutes a piece of Nicorette gum for a cigarette, they might well use more than 10 pieces a day.
Dorothy-Grace Elder:
SNP
That should be checked. I once worked with a TV director who collapsed after taking too many pieces of Nicorette gum.
Kay Ullrich:
SNP
That would have been because of the nicotine content.