U.K. Opens Public Comment Period for Milk, Yogurt ProductsContaining Phytosterol Esters

U.K. Opens Public Comment Period for Milk, Yogurt ProductsContaining Phytosterol Esters

LONDON--The Food Standards Agency (FSA)--the United Kingdom'sindependent food safety watchdog--is considering a novel food application putforth by Rotterdam, The Netherlands-based Unilever to market milk- andyogurt-type products containing phytosterol esters. Unilever was also recentlycleared to use phytosterol esters in yellow fat spreads as acholesterol-lowering agent; the product in question was Unilever's Florapro.activ, also known as Take Control in the UnitedStates.

The "milk-type" products being considered include skimmed,semi-skimmed and vegetable-based milk variants. The "yogurt-type"products under consideration include natural and fruit-flavored yogurts. Thephytosterol esters added to these products would be identical to those currentlyused in spreads and would provide 1 g of sterols per 250 mL serving. However,products containing these phytosterol esters will no longer be labeled as"milk" or "yogurt" under the European Union's milklegislation (EC Directive 95/2); they would be considered novel foods.

The application is now open for public comment, which will be considered bythe independent Advisory Committee for Novel Foods and Processes at its Sept. 12meeting. Comments can be mailed to [email protected].