asked the Minister for Health if he will inform the House of the following (1) the methods being used by the EC to determine the toxicity level for food additives, (2) those methods which he approves of, (3) if he is aware that E123 is banned in the US, the USSR, Greece, Yugoslavia, Austria, Finland and Norway due to evidence that it causes cancer, (4) if he will inform the House of some of the foods that contain E123 and (5) if he is satisfied that no damage is being caused to the health of the population by E123 and, if so, the evidence for this.
Written Answers. - Food Tests.
92.
The EC's Scientific Committee for Food advises on questions relating to food, including the use of food additives and other processing aids. Its members are independent experts in such fields as medicine, nutrition, toxicology, biology and chemistry. All member states are represented.
The committee comes to its conclusions about the safety of particular additives on the basis of studies which use well established scientific methods for establishing food toxicology. It also reviews the results of studies carried out by other national and international bodies. Additives are not given an ‘E-number'—i.e. general approval for use throughout the Community—unless there is unanimous agreement from all member states on this.
The food colouring amaranth (E123) has been approved for use in food by the Scientific Committee for Food. It has also been approved by the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives of the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation. Typical products in which it is used include packet soup, packet cake mix, gravy granules and quick setting jelly mix.