The Flavourings Working Group consists mainly of food chemists who work for flavouring manufacturers, users of flavourings in the food industry, official food control authorities, trade laboratories or universities. The regular meetings serve to exchange information and form opinions. In discussions on current topics, the aim is to reach a consensus. Where this is not possible, the exchange of experience is intended to help bring points of view closer together or at least contribute to a better understanding of each other's positions. The results of the discussions also serve as the basis for publications by the working group.
The Flavourings Working Group has been in existence since July 1998 and since then has consisted of around 20-25 active members and a varying number of corresponding members.
The de facto end of smoke flavourings in the EU from 2024 played a central role in the working group's technical discussions. The required extension of the authorisation for so-called "primary products" was not approved by the Commission in July 2024. The reason was the content of genotoxic substances such as furan-2(5H)-one and 1,2-dihydroxybenzene in connection with a tightening of the assessment of such substances by the EFSA Scientific Committee decided in 2019. It remains to be seen how the changed situation will affect the food market once the current transitional periods have expired. If, for example, the consequence is that more conventional smoking is used again as a substitute for smoke flavourings, this could lead to increased consumer exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - these smoke ingredients are significantly depleted during the production of smoke flavourings through corresponding purification steps. For a more detailed look at the issue, please refer to the working group's publication on the topic in the journal Lebensmittelchemie (2025) 79(2).
PD Dr habil. Martin Steinhaus
Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology
at the Technical University of Munich, Freising
martin.steinhaus@tum.de
Dr Andrea Bosse
LANXESS Germany, Cologne
andrea.bosse@lanxess.com
Frauke Kirsch
Hertz & Selck GmbH & Co, Hamburg
kir@hertz-selck.de
Term of office 2026 - 2028
The working group deals, among other things, with
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