The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has rejected claims that its call to ban the food colours used in a high-profile study by Southampton University contradicts advice from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
In a recent statement on the study, which examined the effects of six food colours and the preservative sodium benzoate on child behaviour, EFSA said: “In the context of the overall weight of evidence and in view of the considerable uncertainties, such as the lack of consistency and relative weakness of the effect and the absence of information on the clinical significance of the behavioural changes observed, we conclude that the findings of this study cannot be used as a basis for altering the ADI [acceptable daily Intake] of the respective food colours or sodium benzoate.”It added: “The clinical significance of the observed effects [increased hyperactivity in children consuming the additives] remains unclear.” It also noted that the study design meant researchers were unable to isolate which additives were responsible for behavioural changes.
However, the FSA, which is pushing for an EU-wide ban on the colours in question, claimed a ban was “entirely consistent” with EFSA’s recent statement. A spokeswoman said: “EFSA agrees with us that this study [which the FSA funded] was of the highest quality. It is not up to EFSA to conduct risk management. That is down to the Member States. Our advice to ministers is that the UK’s negotiating position on this should be to push for a mandatory ban.”
In the meantime, it is calling for manufacturers to observe a voluntary phase-out of the colours in the UK by 2009, something that the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) fears will “put the UK at odds with the rest of Europe”, as such a move could not apply to imports from elsewhere in Europe. “The UK would be the only country to ban these colours, which raises questions about how workable it really is,” said FDF director of communications Julian Hunt.
A spokesman for EFSA said: “Our scientific assessment was that the study provided limited evidence that these additives had a small and statistically significant effect on activity and attention in some children. But we did not feel the evidence was sufficient to change the ADIs. But the FSA clearly feels that this does warrant action. It’s also the FSA’s role to take into account other factors in making proposals on risk management options to the UK authorities.”
However, if the European Commission were to approach EFSA for further advice in the light of the FSA’s calls for a EU-wide ban, EFSA would offer the same opinion that it published in March, unless new evidence came to light, he confirmed.
The University of Southampton study, which was financed by the FSA, showed that children given drinks containing combinations of Sunset Yellow (E110), Quinoline Yellow (E104), Carmoisine (E122), Allura Red (E129), Ponceau 4R (E124) and Tartrazine (E102) and the preservative sodium benzoate (E211), became more hyperactive than those in control groups.