D-Tagatose approved

Wednesday 14 December 2005

A new type of sugar has been approved for use in food by the Food Standards Agency.

The company Bioresco applied on behalf of Arla Food Ingredients to the Agency for permission to use D-Tagatose as an ingredient. The Agency�s independent expert advisers on novel foods, the Advisory Committee on Novel Foods and Processes (ACNFP), have scrutinised and consulted twice on the application and have now agreed the application should be approved, subject to labelling conditions.

D-Tagatose is chemically similar to fructose and is naturally present at low levels in heat-treated dairy products. As a precaution, the ACNFP has said that D-Tagatose must be labelled as being derived from milk as some people are allergic to proteins in cows� milk, which may be present in D-Tagatose at low levels.

Novel foods are a food or food ingredient that does not have a significant history of consumption within the European Union (EU) before May 1997. All novel foods are subject to a pre-market safety assessment under the novel foods regulation (EC) 258/97.

In the UK the ACNFP carries out all novel food assessments. The relevant authorities in other EU countries have been consulted and this approval of D-Tagatose allows it to be used throughout the EU.