§ Lord Clement-Jonesasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they intend to have a dialogue with the European Union Scientific Committee for Food or the European Food Safety Authority about the information requirements for dossiers submitted for the purpose of permitting the continued use beyond July 2005 of nutrients missing from the annexes of the Food Supplement Directive. [HL3444]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner)The Government are firmly committed to the view that, in the interests of consumer choice, the law should allow food supplements that are safe and properly labelled to be freely marketed.
The Government, represented by the Food Standards Agency, are pressing the European Food Safety Authority for an urgent, substantive meeting with relevant parties to discuss dossier requirements and expect a positive response soon. The European Commission supports this move. The objectives of such a meeting would be to explain problems faced by the United Kingdom food supplements industry resulting from the omission of nutrients and nutrient 16WA sources from the annexes to the Food Supplements Directive; and to explore the potential for simplified dossiers to be presented for vitamin and mineral sources with a long history of safe use and the potential for read-across between dossiers for substances which are likely to have similar toxicological profiles.