The Benefit to Closer Cooperation Between Global Color Regulators
2017-04-12 13:00:00
New study suggests that EU and the US companies and consumers have much to gain from closer cooperation on food coloring.
Regulatory ruling on food color is not the same everywhere and therefore exporters need to reformulate their products for the intended marketplace and demonstrate compliance with the applicable rules, creating an additional cost and could be considered as a barrier to trade. Failure to comply with these rules may give rise to claims of adulteration, misbranding or non-compliance and products may be rejected at the border or recalled from the market.
Many food colors approved in the EU are not approved in the US and vice versa. Restrictions for use are set for over 600 different colour additive-food category combinations in the EU while there are hardly any regulatory maximum limits set in the US. On the other hand, the US does not allow adding color at all in over 300 foods while only few food categories are entirely excluded in the EU. In addition, there is variation in food colour specifications and labelling requirements and the US requires all synthetic color batches are certified by its administration before use.
This study suggests closer cooperation between regulators can be beneficial for consumers, businesses and regulators alike. Regulatory cooperation is not a new concept, and the EU is pursuing such regulatory dialogues with many partners around the globe, with two clear principles in mind:
- One, cooperation is only possible if the level of protection for citizens improves, or at least stays the same.
- Two, everything we do must be fully transparent and respect the independence of our regulators and of our respective domestic regulatory processes.
Only in this way, regulatory cooperation can bring real benefits on the one hand, and gain appreciation of our citizens.
Navigating global food and drink regulations can be tough, especially when discussions are full of acronyms, but we made a cheat sheet to help.
The Benefit to Closer Cooperation Between Global Color Regulators
