Scientific Opinion on the safety of vitamin D-enriched UV-treated baker’s yeast

Following a request from the European Commission, the EFSA Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on the safety of “UV-treated baker’s yeast” (Lallemand SAS) as a novel food ingredient in the context of Regulation (EC) No 258/97, taking into account the comments and objections of a scientific nature raised by Member States. The novel food ingredient (NFI) is baker’s yeast treated with UV irradiation to induce the conversion of ergosterol to vitamin D2. The applicant intends to use the NFI during the production of yeast-leavened bread, rolls, fine pastry and food supplements. The Panel considers that the provided compositional data, the specification, the data from batch testing, data on the stability on the production process are sufficient and do not give rise to safety concerns. The Panel concludes that the data provided are sufficient and do not give rise to safety concerns.The applicant intends to use the NFI as an alternative source of vitamin D for food supplements and for fortification of yeast-leavened bread, rolls and fine pastry at maximum concentrations of 5 μg vitamin D2 per 100 g of these foods. The applicant provided combined intake estimates for these two food categories for “all subjects” and “consumers only”. The source for the production of the NFI is Saccharomyces cerevisiae, an organism with a long history of safe food use. Even if the NFI is used at the maximum intended use levels, which deliver 5 µg vitamin D/100 g bread, rolls and fine pastry, it is highly unlikely that Tolerable Upper Intake Levels as established by EFSA (EFSA NDA Panel, 2012) are exceeded. The Panel considers that UV-treated baker’s yeast exhibiting an enhanced content of vitamin D2 is safe under the intended conditions of use.