nanotechnologies and food discussion group minutes of the first

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2. Purpose of the group
The FSA gave a short presentation, outlining the main Agency specific
recommendations from the House of Lords report into nanotechnologies and food. The
setting up of this discussion group stemmed from a recommendation from the House of
Lords and it was intended that the group will enable information to be exchanged
between different sectors in the nanotechnologies and food area in addition to helping
the FSA take forward some of the recommendations from the House of Lords report.
3. Updates from the FSA
Novel Foods
The FSA explained the main regulatory developments in the Novel Foods area.
Relating to the proposal to amend the Novel Foods Regulation, the common position of
Member States was adopted in March 2010 and this made explicit that any
nanomaterial not used before 15 May 1997 would need assessment as a novel food.
Following this, the European Parliament proposed 103 amendments on second
reading. There were however no new amendments relating to engineered
nanomaterials. The FSA explained that the proposal will undergo formal conciliation in
February/March 2011 and if agreed the new regulation might be adopted in June 2011
and come fully into effect in June 2013.
The FSA outlined the definition of engineered nanomaterial proposed in the amended
novel food regulation proposal and explained the potential difficulties relating to this in
terms of a lack of suitable methods to detect and measure nanoparticles in food and
therefore potential difficulties relating to enforcement. Nonetheless, the definition does
have the capacity to be adapted relatively easily as science progresses. In terms of the
Novel Foods Regulation, the FSA considers that a definition acts merely as a safety net
as foods produced through nanotechnologies will be caught by the scope of the
regulation either because they are novel or because they are produced using a new
production process.
The FSA informed the group that in October 2010, DG SANCO issued a draft generic
definition of “nanomaterial” drawing on advice from SCENIHR (the EU scientific
committee on emerging and newly identified health risks) which went out to
consultation. UK Government Departments responded to this consultation by raising a
number of questions relating to limitations in current measurement techniques, the
possibility that existing materials which contain a very small proportion of a nanoscaled
element may be unnecessarily classed as nanomaterials, and the lower size limit of
1nm.
Food additives and food contact materials
There were no new developments since the publication of the House of Lords report,
except that the revised framework for the regulation of food additives came into effect in
January 2010 and the draft legislation on plastic food contact materials was near to
being formally adopted.
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