Our issues on Food & Feed law
60% of EU starch goes into the EU food/feed chain. But when starch is being extracted, it is often not yet known whether it will go to food or non food applications. All the EU produced starch must therefore comply with EU food and feed law. Starch Europe members are therefore strongly implicated by EU food and feed law and Starch Europe seeks to ensure that the specific interests of starch producers are taken into account in its development.

Issues of particular interest include:

Contaminants/Mycotoxins: Food safety must be the basis for any decision regarding the maximum limits for mycotoxins. If safety is an issue, preventive and mitigation methods like the implementation of code of good practices should be put into place and if despite these codes, safety is still at stake, then limits should be realistic, achievable, consistent, controllable and be based on risk analysis. A realistic and consistent approach should be taken also for limits in feed products.
Legislation on gene technology: Starch Europe members continue to respond to current customer demands for conventional products in compliance with EU laws and by implementing traceability as long as most European consumers are not ready to accept GMOs.
Other:Starch Europe also closely follows the development of the EU legislation regarding additives and processing aids, animal feed and codes of good practice, materials in contact with food.