THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 on flavourings and certain food ingredients with flavouring properties for use in and on foods and amending Council Regulation (EEC) No 1601/91, Regulations (EC) No 2232/96 and (EC) No 110/2008 and Directive 2000/13/EC, and in particular Article 11(3) thereof,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1331/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2008 establishing a common authorisation procedure for food additives, food enzymes and food flavourings, and in particular Article 7(5) thereof,
Whereas:
(1)
Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 lays down a Union list of flavourings and source materials approved for use in and on foods and their conditions of use.
(2)
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 872/2012 adopted a list of flavouring substances and introduced that list in Part A of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008.
(3)
That list may be updated in accordance with the common procedure referred to in Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1331/2008, either on the initiative of the Commission or following an application submitted by a Member State or by an interested party.
(4)
The Union list of flavourings and source materials contains a number of substances for which the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) has requested additional scientific data to be provided for completion of the evaluation before specific deadlines established in the Annex I Part A to Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008.
(5)
In the case of the five following substances belonging to the Flavouring Group Evaluation FGE 208rev.1: p-mentha-1,8-dien-7-ol (FL No 02.060), myrtenol (FL No 02.091), myrtenal (FL No 05.106), p-mentha-1,8-dien-7-yl acetate (FL No 09.278) and myrtenyl acetate (FL No 09.302), the deadline of 31 December 2012 was established in the Union list for the submission of requested additional scientific data. Such data has been submitted by the applicant.
(6)
That chemical group includes substance p-mentha-1,8-dien-7-al (FL No 05.117) which was used as a representative substance for the group and for which the toxicity data were submitted.
(7)
The Authority has evaluated the submitted data and concluded in its scientific opinion of 24 June 2015 that the substance p-mentha-1,8-dien-7-al (FL No 05.117) is genotoxic in vivo and therefore its use as a flavouring substance raises a safety concern. That substance has already been removed from the Union list by Commission Regulation (EU) 2015/1760.
(8)
In that opinion, the Authority also concluded that since p-mentha-1,8-dien-7-al (FL No 05.117) is a representative for the group, there is a potential safety concern for the other substances in that group.
(9)
In order to further evaluate the safety of those five substances, the supporting parties concerned were formally requested to provide additional toxicity studies by 30 April 2016 to enable EFSA to finalise their assessment.
(10)
The supporting parties concerned submitted the requested new studies before 30 April 2016.
(11)
It is also appropriate, pending the evaluation by EFSA of the new scientific data, the eventual full evaluation of these substances according to the EFSA CEF panel procedure if appropriate and the completion of the subsequent regulatory process, to amend the conditions of use of those five substances to better reflect the current real uses of those substances.
(12)
Due to technical reasons, transitional periods should be laid down to cover food to which any of the five flavouring substances have been added, which has been placed on the market or dispatched from third countries for the Union, before the entry into force of this Regulation.
(13)
Part A of Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1334/2008 should therefore be amended accordingly.
(14)
The measures provided for in this Regulation are in accordance with the opinion of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION: