The Flavourings Working Group consists primarily of food chemists who work for flavouring manufacturers, users of flavourings in the food industry, official food monitoring, commercial laboratories or universities. The regular meetings serve to exchange information and form opinions. In discussions on current topics, mutually agreed opinions should preferably be developed. Where this is not possible, the exchange of experiences should contribute to a convergence of viewpoints or at least to a better understanding of the other position. The results of the discussions also serve as a basis for publications by the working group.
The Flavourings Working Group has existed since July 1998 and has consisted of around 20-25 active members and a varying number of corresponding members.
The de facto end of smoke flavorings in the EU has played a central role in the working group's technical discussions since 2024. The required extension of the authorization for so-called “primary products” was not approved by the Commission in July 2024. The reason for this was the content of genotoxic substances such as furan-2(5H)-one and 1,2-dihydroxybenzene in connection with a stricter assessment of such substances by the EFSA Scientific Committee decided in 2019. It remains to be seen how the changed situation will affect the food market once the current transitional periods have expired. The unavailability of smoke flavorings could lead to more conventional smoking resulting in increased consumer exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – a group of toxic compounds that are significantly depleted during the production of smoke flavorings through appropriate purification steps. For a more detailed consideration of the problem, please refer to the working group's publication on the subject in the journal Lebensmittelchemie (2025) 79(2).
PD Dr. habil. Martin Steinhaus
Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology
at the Technical University of Munich, Freising
martin.steinhaus@tum.de
Deputy
Dr. Andrea Bosse
LANXESS Germany, Cologne
andrea.bosse@lanxess.com
Secretary
Frauke Kirsch
Hertz & Selck GmbH & Co, Hamburg
kir@hertz-selck.de
Term of office 2023 - 2025
The working group primarily deals with
This page has been machine translated. If you have any feedback or comments please feel free to contact us.
last modified: 07.04.2025 11:59 H from Translator