Following on from the submission of information on Paprika Oleoresin by NATCOL in response to the JECFA call for data for Paprika Oleoresin as a food colour for the 69th meeting, the Summary Report has been published.  The Committee did not allocate an ADI but did allocate the name Paprika Extract for use as a food colour to differentiate it from Paprika Oleoresin for use as a spice.  New tentative specifications were prepared pending receipt of additional information on Paprika Extract as a food colour; including concentrations of capsaicin and additional information about the composition of commercial batches produced by a variety of manufacturers. These requirements are outlined in Annex 2 of the Summary Report,  Page 16.  The new tentative specifications for Paprika Extract prepared at the 69th meeting have now been uploaded in the on-line version of the Combined Compendium of Food Additive Specifications and are available at:
http://www.fao.org/ag/agn/jecfa-additives/search.html

 

As of 2008 NATCOL has been representing the interests of Natural Colours Manufacturers for 29 years.  The 34th AGM was held in May 2008 in Madrid.

Following on the EFSA call for data in December 2006 (see attached pdf) as part of the Re-evaluation of Food Colours, NATCOL in conjunction with EUTECA, CEFIC and FAIA submitted dossiers on all the colours listed by EFSA to meet the 31 March 2007 deadline.  In addition, NATCOL co-ordinated (in conjunction with EUTECA & CEFIC) a comprehensive Intake Study for a number of the Colours, which was submitted to EFSA during 2007.  

EFSA has awarded the service contract concerning the preparation of Summary Documents/Reports including toxicity and non-toxicity data, to be used in the re-evaluation of the currently permitted natural colours for re-evaluation by the EFSA AFC Panel.   The contract has been awarded to: 
Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu —
Centre for Substances and Integrated Risk Assessment,
A. Van Leeuwenhoeklaan 9, 3720 BA Bilthoven, Netherlands.
E-mail: info@rivm.nl. URL: www.rivm.nl.

The 4th International Congress on Pigments in Food took place in Stuttgard-Hohenheim 9-12 October 2006.  Starting in 1999 in Sevilla (Spain) with the 1st congress called "Pigments in Food Technology", the Pigments in Food Congress-series has been continued successfully, 2002 in Lisbon (Portugal; "Functionalities of Pigments in Food") and 2004 in Quimper (France; "Pigments in Food - more than colours ...").

In 2006 the fourth congress ("Pigments - A Challenge to Life Sciences") will be hosted by the Plant Foodstuff Technology Section of the Institute of Food Technology at HohenheimUniversity (Germany).

More information is available on the link: http://pigmentsinfood2006.uni-hohenheim.de/ 

 

4th International Workshop on Anthocyanins was held in Rotorua, New Zealand 14-17th February 2006.  The conference proceedings are available on the following link:

 

http://www.crop.cri.nz/home/conferences/iwa2006/index.jsp 

 

Click here to access the NATCOL powerpoint presentation

• 'Colour in Food - Improving Quality' (2002) CRC Press, Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Ed. Douglas
  B. MacDougall ISBN 0-8493-1542-5

• 'Colour - Travels Through the Paintbox'. Victoria Finlay,
  Published by Hodder and Stoughton, 2002.
  (A Sceptre Book).
  ISBN Hardback 0 340 73328 4 Trade paperback 0 340 826 320

• 'Threads of Colour - A new photographic book by Jaime Marshall'.
  Published by Andrew Martin International, London, UK (2002).
  ISBN: 0953004546
  
• The Nordic Council of Ministers new publication reviewing all EU Food
  Additives is now available on the Internet - click here

• THE LEGISLATION OF FOOD COLOURS IN EUROPE by Dr Ulrike Arlt
  (PDF Format 267K) (HTML Format 50K)

• 'Colouring our foods in the last and next millennium' by Alison Downham and Paul Collins
  (PDF Format 100k)