Medical professionals and food safety experts have decried a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposal to legalize sulfur dioxide as a food additive, with one calling it meaningless and potentially misleading.
Sulfur dioxide is an allergen that could cause stomach and bowel irritations or in severe cases trigger asthma attacks, physician Yan Tzung-hai (顏宗海), a clinical toxicology specialist at Linkou Chang Gung Medical Hospital, said on Saturday.
Sulfur dioxide is an unintended chemical byproduct from sulfites, legal additives commonly added to preserved foods for freshness and color, said Hsu Tin-chen (許庭禎), a professor of food science and technology at Taiwan National University.
Their comments came in response to the FDA’s announcement on Wednesday of its revised food safety regulations, which are set to take effect within 60 days after a period of public comment.
Wednesday’s preview said the agency is to classify sulfur dioxide as a food additive for many common products such as pickles, dehydrated fruits and vegetables, molasses and malt sugar, dried shellfish, animal-based gelatin and konjac yam derivatives.
Excessive sulfur dioxides has been one of the most common reasons that food products such as dried long yellow daylilies and dried shrimp have failed to pass the FDA’s food safety standards.
While some nations have legalized sulfur dioxide, the substance is used as a disinfectant during the manufacturing process and never a food additive, Yan said.
Since sulfur dioxide is a gas and cannot be directly added to the food itself, classifying it as a food additive contradicts the definition of the term, he said. “The FDA’s proposal to reclassify sulfur dioxide is meaningless and runs the risk of misleading the public.”
However, the FDA has defended its proposal.
Many manufacturers had asked the agency to reclassify sulfur dioxide, even though it is not actually added to food, so that they would not face fines for using sulfites, FDA official Wei Jen-ting (魏任廷) said.
Classifying sulfur dioxide as an additive would not affect regulations on the maximum safe levels of it in foods, he said, adding that sulfur dioxide levels in dried daylilies would still not be able to exceed 3g per kilogram.
The FDA’s proposal is to permit the use of sulfites and sulfur dioxide in marinated or fermented vegetables, categories that include most common cabbage or other leaf vegetable pickles, he said.
Sulfur dioxide is an approved food additive in the EU, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and the WHO recognizes it as a preservative, so Taiwan should not be an exception, he said.
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