§ Mr. TyrieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he intends to make it his policy to consult industry and to produce a list of those nutrients and nutrient sources which are legally available in food supplements but which are not listed as acceptable for such use in the Schedules to the proposed Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003; and if he will publish such a list in the Official Report. [124157]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Food Standards Agency (FSA), which has responsibility for policy on food supplements, has no plans to ask industry to produce such a list.
Industry has already provided the FSA with information on those nutrients and nutrient sources currently marketed in the United Kingdom but missing from the Schedules to the Food Supplement (England) Regulations 2003. For lists of missing nutrients and nutrient sources, may I refer the hon. Member to the responses I gave the hon. Member for Bosworth (Mr. Tredinnick) on Monday 30 June 2003, Official Report, columns 142W and 181W.
§ Mr. TyrieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dossiers are being prepared by the food supplements industry for submission to the EU Scientific Committee for Food in relation to nutrients and nutrient sources which are legally available in food supplements, but which are not listed as acceptable for such use in the Schedules to the proposed Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003. [124158]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonIndustry representatives have informed the Food Standards Agency that 24 safety dossiers are currently being prepared to support the addition of missing substances to the permitted lists in the Annexes to the Food Supplements Directive.
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§ Mr. TyrieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the implications for animal testing of nutrients and nutrient sources of the requirements of the Food Supplements Directive that dossiers must be submitted for consideration by the European Scientific Committee for Food in relation to nutrients and nutrient sources which are legally available in food supplements, but which are not listed as acceptable for such use in the Schedules to the proposed Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003. [124159]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe lists of permitted vitamins/minerals and their sources in the Food Supplements Directive may be extended following assessment, by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), of dossiers of information supporting the use of additional vitamins and minerals and their sources.
It is not possible to predict what implications dossier requirements may have for animal testing. Guidance on dossier content, issued by the former European Union Scientific Committee on Food, does not stipulate that data should be from animal testing and states that the available data should be submitted in the first instance. The need to generate new data will be assessed on a case-by-case basis; it will depend upon the extent and nature of data already available and any safety considerations that need to be addressed. It will be for the petitioner to decide on the most appropriate data package.
In recognition of the difficulties associated with compilation of dossiers, the Food Standards Agency has been pressing the EFSA for an urgent, substantive discussion involving representatives of relevant interest groups. The European Commission supports this move. The EFSA has responded positively and we expect a meeting to be arranged soon.
§ Mr. TyrieTo ask the Secretary of State for Health by what date food supplement products will be required to be removed from the market if they contain nutrients and nutrient sources which are not listed as acceptable for such use in the Schedules to the proposed Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003. [124160]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonThe Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 will come into force on 1 August 2005. From that date, the sale of food supplements containing vitamins or minerals not in the Schedules will be prohibited, unless the criteria in regulation 5(3), which permit continued sale until 1 January 2010, are met.
§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent representations he has received from the National Association of Health Stores in relation to the provisions of the Food Supplements Directive and the Food Supplements (England) Regulations; and what response he has made to those representations. [120435]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonMinisters have received a number of recent written representations from, and on behalf of, the National Association of Health Stores (NAHS) expressing NAHS's concerns over the impact of the Food Supplements Directive and the implementing regulations. In particular, NAHS voiced particular concerns over the current composition of the118W lists of permitted substances in the annexes to the Directive and asked that the United Kingdom seek an amendment to the Directive.
Ministers have responded recognising those concerns and setting out the Government's view that there was no possibility of negotiations on the Directive being reopened. Many Member States wanted a much more restrictive regime.
No aspect of the Directive needs to be implemented by the industry until 1 August 2005 and the Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 make use of flexibility in the Directive that means marketing of some products may not be affected until 1 January 2010.
Food supplement; containing vitamins and minerals and their sources missing from the positive lists, that were on the market when the Directive came into force may continue to be marketed beyond 1 August 2005 provided that dossiers to support their addition to the positive lists have been submitted to the European Commission before 12 July 2005 and provided that the European Food Safety Authority has not given a negative opinion on such use.