Conditions of use for food additive E425 (konjac)

Further to the adoption of the above Directive, a copy of draft Regulations which will amend the Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995 is now available. These will implement the Directive in England. Your comments on the enclosed draft legislation, together with likely financial impact (costs or benefits) on businesses in England, are requested.

Directive 2003/52/EC
European Parliament and Council Directive 95/2/EC harmonised the use of food additives other than colours and sweeteners (referred to in UK legislation as miscellaneous food additives) throughout the EU. It has been amended on three previous occasions. It contains lists of permitted food additives, the categories of the foods in which they may be used and conditions for their use. Konjac (E 425) is used as a thickener and is permitted under an earlier amendment to Directive 95/2/EC to be used in a wide range of foods.

Directive 2003/52/EC of 18 June 2003, which was published in the Official Journal of the European Communities (L 178) on 17 July 2003, amends Directive 95/2 for the fourth time to prohibit the use of E 425 (konjac) in jelly confectionery, including so called ‘jelly mini-cup’ sweets. It is intended to complement the action introduced by Commission Decision 2002/247/EC which suspended the marketing, use and import into the EU of jelly confectionery containing konjac, including jelly mini-cups. This followed a number of deaths of children and elderly people in third countries from choking while consuming jelly mini-cups containing konjac. The jelly mini-cups in particular pose a particular risk to consumers of choking both because of the shape and size of this type of confectionery and the chemical and physical properties of konjac.

The proposed regulations
The Miscellaneous Food Additives Regulations 1995 have been amended three times (in 1997, 1999, and 2001) to implement previous amendments to Directive 95/2/EC. The 1999 amendment included an entry in Schedule 3 which permitted konjac E 425 to be used in foods in general at a maximum level of 10 g/kg, with the exception of foods listed in Schedules 6, 7 and 8 of the Regulations. The enclosed draft Miscellaneous Food Additives (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2003 will implement the provisions of Directive 2003/52/EC by adding jelly confectionery, including jelly mini-cups, to the list of foods not permitted to contain konjac.

Member States are required to implement the provisions of the new Directive into national legislation before 17 January 2004. It is planned that the new regulations will come into force in England on 1 January 2004 to ensure that this important consumer health measure takes effect as quickly as possible.

Devolved administrations
Colleagues in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are drawing up their own regulations to implement the new Directive and are carrying out similar consultation exercises.

Financial Implications
It is likely that there will be no financial implications arising from the implementation of this new Directive, but please let us know if you consider that it will have any financial implications for your organisation.

This consultation has been prepared in accordance with the HM Government Code of Practice on Consultation, which states that a consultation must follow better regulation best practice, including carrying out an Impact Assessment (Regulatory Impact Assessment in Scotland). The assessment is included in the consultation documents.

We are interested in what you thought of this consultation and would therefore welcome your general feedback on both the consultation package and overall consultation process. If you would like to assist us to improve the quality of future consultations, please feel free to share your thoughts with us by using the consultation feedback questionnaire.

Consultation feedback questionnaire (Word)

Consultation feedback questionnaire (pdf)

In accordance with the FSA principle of openness our Information Centre at Aviation House will hold a copy of the completed consultation. Responses will be open to public access upon request. The FSA will also publish a summary of responses, which may include personal data, such as your full name and contact address details. If you do not want this information to be released, please complete and return the Publication of Personal Data Form. Return of this form does not mean that we will treat your response to the consultation as confidential, just your personal data.

Data protection form (Word)

Data protection form (pdf)

Within three months of a consultation ending we aim to publish a summary of responses received and provide a link to it from this page.

If, after three months, the summary is still not showing, please contact the person who was responsible for the original consultation. Alternatively, you can contact the FSA Consultation Co-ordinator by email: consultationcoordinator@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk