The European Food Safety Authority has confirmed its previous risk assessment of lycopene. The European Commission asked EFSA’s Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS Panel) to re-examine a previous risk assessment on lycopene that had been established by the Panel on Food Additives, Flavourings, Processing Aids and Materials in contact with food. The AFC Panel published an opinion in 2008 on the safety of lycopene, recommending an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) of 0.5mg/kg bw/day. This was in line with an ADI established by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in 2006. The European Commission requested a statement on whether the JECFA 2009 opinion on lycopene which had its ADI to ‘not specified’ for lycopene from all sources when used as food colour was based on new data that had been unavailable to EFSA during its 2008 evaluation.
In an opinion published this week, EFSA confirmed its 2008 evaluation, saying that no additional data was examined by JECFA. The difference in opinion was based on “a diverging interpretation of the toxicological relevance” of certain effects noted in a study on lycopene. EFSA’s opinion now passes to the European Commission for evaluation.
EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food.