Pat Upton
Question:172 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Health the current position in relation to controls on the use of aspartamine as a sweetener. [1503/97]
Written Answers. - Food Additive Controls.
The use of sweeteners in foodstuffs is regulated in Ireland by the European Communities (General Provisions on the Control of Additives, and in Particular Colours and Sweeteners for Use in Foodstuffs) Regulations, 1995 (S.I. No. 344 of 1995), which transpose into Irish law the provisions of several EU directives on the use of such additives in food.
Under these Regulations, aspartame (EC No. E 951) may be used as an additive in food in accordance with the following table:
|
Foodstuffs |
Maximum usable dose |
|
Non Alcohol Drinks |
|
|
Water-based flavoured drinks, energy reduced or with no added sugar |
600 mg/1 |
|
Milk and milk-derivative-based or fruit-juice-based drinks, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
600 mg/1 |
|
Desserts and similar products |
|
|
Water-based flavoured desserts, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Milk and milk-derivative-based preparations, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Fruit and vegetable-based desserts, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Egg-based desserts, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Cereal-based desserts, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Fat-based desserts, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
‘snacks’: certain flavours of ready to eat, prepacked, dry, savoury starch products and coated nuts |
500 mg/kg |
|
Confectionery |
|
|
Confectionery with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Cocoa or dried-fruit-based confectionery, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
2,000 mg/kg |
|
Starch-based confectionery, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
2,000 mg/kg |
|
Cocoa-, milk-, dried-fruit or fat-based sandwich spreads, energy reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Chewing gum with no added sugar |
5,500 mg/kg |
|
Cider and perry |
600 mg/1 |
|
Alcohol-free or with an alcohol content not exceeding 1.2% vol |
600 mg/1 |
|
‘Biere de table/Tafelbier Beer’ (original wort content less than 6%) except for ‘Obergariges Einfachbier’ |
600 mg/1 |
|
Beers with a minimum acidity of 30 milli-equivalents expressed as NaOH |
600 mg/1 |
|
Brown Beers of the ‘oud bruin’ type |
600 mg/1 |
|
Edible ices, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
800 mg/kg |
|
Canned or bottled fruit, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Energy-reduced jams, jellies and marmalades |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Energy-reduced fruit and vegetable preparations |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Sweet-sour preserves of fruit and vegetables |
300 mg/kg |
|
Sweet-sour preserves and semi-preserves of fish and marinades of fish, crustaceans and molluscs |
300 mg/kg |
|
Sauces |
350 mg/kg |
|
Mustard |
350 mg/kg |
|
Fine bakery products for special nutritional uses |
1,700 mg/kg |
|
Complete formulae for weight control intended to replace total daily food intake or an individual meal |
800 mg/kg |
|
Complete formulae and nutritional supplements for use under medical supervision |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
Liquid food supplements/dietary integrators |
600 mg/kg |
|
Solid food supplements/dietary integrators |
2,000 mg/kg |
|
Vitamins and dietary preparations |
5,500 mg/kg |
The regulations also specify the purity criteria for aspartame.
A new directive of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the existing provisions on sweeteners for use in foodstuffs was recently adopted but has not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Communities. The effect of this amendment will be to extend the permitted use of aspartame in the following manner.
|
Foodstuffs |
Maximum usable dose |
|
breakfast cereals with a fibre content of more than 15%, and containing at least 20% bran, energy-reduced or with no added sugar |
1,000 mg/kg |
|
energy-reduced soups |
110 mg/1 |
|
breath-freshening micro-sweets, with no added sugar |
6,000 mg/kg |
|
strongly flavoured freshening throat pastilles with no added sugar |
2,000 mg/kg |
|
energy-reduced beer |
25 mg/1 |
|
drinks consisting of a mixture of a nonalcoholic drink and beer, cider, perry, spirits or wine |
600 mg/1 |
|
spirit drinks containing less than 15% alcohol by volume |
600 mg/kg |
|
Feinkostsalat |
350 mg/kg |
In general, the labelling of foodstuffs is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Enterprise and Employment. I understand that his Department is in the process of transposing into Irish law the provisions of Directive 96/21/EC which requires that the labelling of foodstuffs containing aspartame must include the statement "contains a source of phenylalanine". This labelling requirement already applies, under S.I. No. 344 of 1995, to table-top sweeteners containing aspartame.