The European Commission published the Register of food enzymes
The food enzyme Regulation[1] stipulates that only food enzymes included in the future Union list may be placed on the market as such and used in food for technological needs during manufacturing and subsequent steps.
The first publication of the Union list will be based on the evaluation of the dossiers submitted before 11th March 2015. There is no formal deadline for this publication, and AMFEP does not expect it to take place before 2023.
Pending this first Union List, the European Commission published the Register[2] of all applications considered valid according to the Regulation on a common authorization procedure[3] in June 2020.
For an application to be considered valid, the product must be in scope of the food enzyme regulation, and the dossier should contain all information and data required for the risk assessment and risk management of the food enzyme[4].
The Register of food enzymes to be considered for inclusion in the Union List can be found here.
The Register is not a list of authorized food enzymes.
Until the first publication of the Union List[5], all food enzymes that comply with existing legislation at Member State level can be placed on the market and used in such Member States.
The Register contains the following information on each food enzyme:
- Commission ID number: reflecting the year of submission and subsequent submission number
- Enzyme nomenclature: IUBMB number and name, usual name (the one under which the enzyme is placed on the market).
- Production organism: the name of the microorganism, plant or animal source of the food enzyme is mentioned at the genus and species levels. When appropriate, the reference of the microorganism strain used to produce the enzyme is also mentioned.
- EFSA question number: each food enzyme dossier is assigned a reference by EFSA, for the purpose of transparency on the progress of the safety evaluation.
AMFEP welcomes the publication of the Register. Further information can be found in our FAQ, as well as on the European Commission’s web site.
[1] Regulation (EC) 1332/2008.
[2] Pursuant to Art. 17.3 of above regulation.
[3] Regulation (EC) 1331/2008, Art. 9.
[4] Regulation (EU) 234/2011 implementing Regulation (EC) 1331/2008, art 8 and 9.
[5] Pursuant to Art. 24 of Regulation 1332/2008.
