EU Proposes the Use of Polyols in Certain Energy-reduced Confectionery Products

On July 19, 2021, the European Commission published the Regulation (EU) 2021/1175 of 16 July 2021 amending Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 on “The use of polyols in certain energy-reduced confectionery products.”

The scientific document outlines the following proposals:

• Annex II to Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 lays down a Union list of food additives approved for use in food and their conditions of use.
• Applications on the use of polyols as a sweetener in energy-reduced hard confectionery (candies and lollies), soft confectionery (chewing candies, fruit gums and foam sugar products/marshmallows), liquorice etc.
• Polyols are low-calorie sweeteners and may be used to partially or totally replace caloric sugars in certain confectionery products.
• The combined use of polyols and sugars in energy-reduced confectionery provides sweetness to products and the desired functionalities and organoleptic properties.
• Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 does not allow the use of polyols in beverages due to their laxative potential.
• Labelling of foods containing more than 10 % added polyols must include the mandatory statement ‘excessive consumption may produce laxative effects.

The regulation shall be effective on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

To view the complete regulation, check out the Food News Monitoring System.