§ Lord Newallasked Her Majesty's Government:
What action they propose to take in the light of the recommendations of the Food Advisory Committee in its review of the colouring matter in food regulations.
§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Baroness Trumpington)My colleagues and I accept the view of the Food Advisory Committee that food colours have a role in providing consumers with a choice of attractively presented foods. We also accept the committee's recommendations. We therefore intend to issue detailed proposals for public comment as quickly as possible to:
- (i) restrict the amount of colour in food by setting maximum levels for all permitted colours;
511 - (ii) prohibit or restrict certain colours which are currently permitted in food.
Implementation of a number of the specific recommendations would first require amendment to EC legislation and we will be discussing these with our European partners as appropriate. We will also encourage our EC partners to adopt the same approach to colours in Community legislation.The FAC made 25 recommendations in all and copies of a detailed statement of how we intend to deal with 512WA each of them have been placed in the Library of the House.
Copies of the committee's final report on the review of the colouring matter in food regulations 1973, published by HMSO in 1987, have already been placed in the Library of the House. The committee's response to comments received on that final report has been published by my department today and copies of this have also been placed in the Library.