Call for input data for the Exposure Assessment of Food Enzymes - 19th Call

19th Call: Input data for the Exposure Assessment of Food Enzymes

Food manufacturing process

• Yeast processing

This call considers enzymatic treatments of yeast to obtain derivatives such as yeast extracts, yeast autolysates and yeast cell walls.

Food products containing yeast extract are identified as an ingredient only in very few foods in the EFSA Raw Primary Commodity (RPC) model^[1], which is narrower than the examples described in the enzyme applications. The selection of food categories was, therefore, aided by information available in the Mintel’s Global New Products Database^[2].

Similar approach was applied to yeast autolysates, but yielded no information.

To the best knowledge of EFSA, yeast cell wall is a by-product from the yeast extract production for uses only in animal feed. Mannoproteins extracted from the yeast cell walls, however, are used to inhibit crystal formation in wine^[3]. Only yeast mannoproteins for such use is considered in this call.

Feedback is sought, therefore, particularly on: (i) for the production of yeast extract at industrial level, whether the enzymatic treatment is applied to liquid yeast or dried yeast; (ii) the type of foods containing yeast autolysates as an ingredient; (iii) the amount of yeast cell walls needed to produce 1 kg of mannoprotein products; (iv) whether the use of yeast mannoproteins is indeed limited only to white wines and sparkling wines.

Instruction for completing the attached MS Excel ® file

Sheet 1 contains a legend for the information given in Sheet 2.

EFSA is seeking your feedback on the information listed in the Excel file concerning the FoodEx categories (column B), and the associated technical factors for yeast processing (columns D; F-G).

1. For FoodEx categories (column B), should any food group be excluded? Or are there any food groups missing from the list?

2. Your attention is drawn also to one additional question at the bottom of sheet 2.

In column I, please indicate ‘Remove’ for food groups to be excluded, and list any additionally proposed food groups with the corresponding FoodEx category at the end of this column.

The FoodEx categories are available in the FoodEx list (Sheet 3).

3. In columns D;F-G, the average technical conversion factor (f1) and the average recipe fractions (f2) and the percentage of FoodEx category containing yeast products (f3) mainly derived from the EFSA RPC Model2 and open information sources are listed.

If you do not agree with any one of the listed technical factors, keeping in mind that there can be some variation between foods in each category, please propose an alternative average factor for the respective FoodEx category in columns J-L.

Average technical conversion factors (f1) were calculated assuming that yeast derivatives are added in powder form to food products. Feedback is particularly sought whether this evaluation is correct. Failing that, information concerning the physical status (i.e. liquid, paste etc) of yeast derivatives, together with their technical conversion factors (f1), is requested.

For transparency purposes, please provide a short text using columns M-P to justify any feedback given. Any references should be provided in the last column.

Submission of data

Data should be submitted directly to EFSA using the dedicated e-mail address for this service: RAL [at] efsa.europa.eu. This mailbox is also the contact point for any technical support/advice you need for the reporting of this data.