Call for input data for the Exposure Assessment of Food Enzymes - 17th Call

17th Call: Input data for the Exposure Assessment of Food Enzymes

Food manufacturing process

• Whey processing

Different from an earlier call-for-data focusing on cheese production with whey as the by-product^[1], this call considers enzymatic treatments of whey to obtain derivatives such as whey protein hydrolysates.

Food products containing whey derivatives as an ingredient could not be easily identified in the EFSA Raw Primary Commodity (RPC) model^[2]. The selection of food categories was aided by information available in databases such as Mintel’s Global New Products Database (http://www.mintel.com/global-new-products-database). Feedback is sought, therefore, particularly on what type of foods contain whey derivatives as an ingredient; and whether the enzymatic treatment is applied to liquid whey or solid whey.

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 whey 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?

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).

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

Average technical conversion factors (f1) were calculated according to the information detailed below

Whey powder:

f1 = 8

8: conversion factor from liquid to powder^[3]

Whey protein:

f1 = 111

111: conversion factor from wet whey to whey protein concentrate^[4]

F1 factor of whey protein is based on the information that EFSA received in a previous public consultation. Feedback is particularly sought whether this value is still valid and representative.

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.

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.