HC Deb 30 April 2002 vol 384 cc765-7W
Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential impact that a low maximum permitted level for nutrients in food supplements would have on(a) the viability of United Kingdom specialist food manufacturers and (b) consumer choice in the UK for food supplement products. [53431]

Yvette Cooper

Setting unnecessarily low maximum permitted levels for nutrients in food supplements is likely to have a detrimental impact on the viability of the United Kingdom's specialist food manufacturers and on UK consumer choice. Throughout negotiations the Food Standards Agency has insisted on sound scientific assessment of safety as the principal criterion for setting limits and will continue to do so.

Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the criteria for setting the upper safe level of intake of vitamins and minerals under review by the EU Scientific Committee for Foods. [53429]

Yvette Cooper

I am advised by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that they would advise as suitable, criteria adopted by the expert group on vitamins and mineral (EVM), which is based on the risk analysis model developed by the food and agriculture organisation of the United Nations and the World Health Organisation. Details of this are set out in the expert group paper: "Risk Analysis in Food Safety: recent development and the respective roles of risk assessment, risk management and risk communication" (EVM/99/10/P), copies of which are available in the Library, and on the FSA's website: www.food.gov.uk. This process takes into account all relevant evidence including that from the peer reviewed human and animal studies.

Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to ensure minimal cost and disruption to(a) consumers, (b) retailers and (c) manufacturers of food supplements resulting from the adoption of the European food supplements directive into UK law. [53433]

Yvette Cooper

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) argued strongly in negotiations for a safety-based approach to this directive (rather than the more restrictive approach favoured by some other member states) in order to minimise the impact on United Kingdom consumer choice and UK businesses. The FSA is now directing its energies towards arguing the case for maximum levels of vitamins and minerals in supplements to be based on thorough scientific risk assessment and forging strong links between the European Union Scientific committee on food and an expert group that it has set up to advise on acceptable levels.

The proposed directive will not immediately outlaw any products already on the UK market. Lists of permitted vitamin and mineral sources remain open pending a continuous programme of safety assessments. We intend, when implementing the directive, to take full advantage of the flexibility the UK has secured for member states to allow continued sale of products containing vitamin and mineral sources not yet on the permitted lists for up to seven years after the directive comes into force.

Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the timetable for the publication of the final versions of the forthcoming report from the Ad Hoc Expert Group on Vitamins and Minerals; and how he plans to take the findings of that report into account when responding to the EU Scientific Committee for Foods' assessment of the Upper Safe Level (USL) of intake of all vitamins and minerals. [53428]

Yvette Cooper

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave the hon. Member for Woodspring (Dr. Fox) on 8 January 2002,Official Report, column 626W.

Consultation on the report is now expected to take place in August 2002. This is to allow extra time for the group to complete risk assessments on all of the vitamins and minerals covered by the review.

Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the potential impact that the preparation of dossiers for submission to the EC Scientific Committee for Foods for the inclusion of additional substances in the annexes to the food supplements directive will have on(a) the costs and (b) the viability of the relevant manufacturers and retailers. [53432]

Yvette Cooper

During negotiations on this directive the Food Standards Agency consulted widely on its possible impacts among United Kingdom interest groups. Initial estimates from industry suggest that the costs of preparing safety dossiers in support of ingredients not on the positive lists in the annexes to the directive lie between £80,000 and £250,000 per dossier.

Any impact of the directive on the relevant manufacturers and retailers will depend upon future developments on the lists of permitted nutrients and maximum permitted levels in food supplements.

Mr. Heald

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what(a) discussions his Department has had with and (b) submissions his Department has made to the European Commission with regard to the implementation of the European food supplements directive, with particular reference to the upper safe level of intake of vitamins and minerals. [53430]

Yvette Cooper

Throughout negotiations on this directive the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has had intensive discussions with the European Commission to ensure that upper safe levels of intake of vitamins and minerals set are not unduly restrictive but are based on sound scientific assessment of safety.

In order to continue this work, the FSA is now directing its energies towards forging strong links between the European Union scientific committee on food (which will advise the commission and member states on upper safe levels) and the United Kingdom's own expert group on vitamins and minerals.