The topic of flavorings for smoking potentially carcinogenic foods is back in the spotlight. Here’s what EFSA says on the matter.
Smoked foods are highly prized for their flavor but not all foods that have the characteristic aroma of burnt wood are smoked in the traditional way. Many are treated with flavoringsi.e. with additives added and whose health risk is highlighted.
The EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) warns consumers not to exclude genotoxicity risks of eight smoke flavorings used to give meat, fish, cheese and other foods their smoky aroma and flavor. Let’s find out the details.
What are smoke flavourings
The smoke flavourings they are complex mixtures that give foods the scent and flavor of burnt wood. At European level they are regulated differently than other types of flavorings used in the food sector because they give rise to different safety problems.
Natural smoking of salmon with beech wood – buttalapasta.it
Already in the past, since 2009, EFSA experts had intervened on the topic after having carried out in-depth analyses, during which they had identified safety issues on levels of use offered for most products.
As a result the European Union had authorized the use of such additives in the food sector, but with stringent limits. And after ten years the evaluation, which is mandatory as per the regulation, was not positive.
EFSA’s opinion
As soon as the user license expired, the European Food Safety Authority took action review the products also through updated methodologies, to allow for a possible renewal of the license. The review showed that the risk of genotoxicity cannot be excluded for these products. “For this type of toxicity it is not possible to establish a safety level,” explains the Authority in a note.
The study group concluded the dossier by highlighting that six of the eight smoke flavorings examined contain genotoxic substances and therefore they are not to be considered safe for human health. For the other two additives, the experts could not rule out safety problems due to a lack of data.
Recall that genotoxicity is the ability of a substance to damage the genetic material of cells. When the cell is damaged it is subject to mutations that can lead to development of even serious pathologies such as cancer or other genetic diseases.
For this reason, the European Commission and the Member States will take EFSA’s conclusions into account when making the decision on the possible renewal of the authorization of the additives in question. We always suggest you look at the label in order to buy healthy foods, for example choose smoked salmon naturally and without additives.
2023-11-28 15:31:03
#Smoking #foods #flavorings #carcinogenic #EFSA #warning #Buttalapasta
