EU bans unhealthy smoke flavoring for smoked sausage and barbecue sauce | Economy

The fact that the smoke flavor is banned does not mean that smoked sausages can no longer be sold. This mainly concerns the artificially added smoke smell that some products have. These ‘fake sausages’ are not smoked in a traditional way. The permit to use the fake flavors will be revoked this year.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) assessed the safety of eight different smoke flavorings. Based on previous scientific research, six out of eight aromas could be found to be potentially harmful to health. The culprits are so-called genotoxic substances. These can damage the DNA and thus increase the risk of cancer. EFSA cannot rule out that two other flavorings contain such components.

If you eat a smoked sausage with such artificial flavors, there is an increased risk of cancer. But it is difficult to determine exactly how great that chance is with genotoxic substances. It also has to do with your lifestyle and several genetic factors.

The permit to use the aromas expires on July 1. There will be a five-year transition period for manufacturers of smoked meat, fish, cheese and other food products that were previously smoked in a traditional way. There is a two-year period for other products such as chips, soups and sauces.

Food manufacturers such as Unox and Zwanenberg Food Group had already indicated prior to the decision that they wanted to look for alternatives to harmful smoke flavorings in the event of a ban. Returning to the laborious, unhealthy and environmentally unfriendly traditional smoking is usually not an option.

No worst-case scenario for HEMA: the well-known HEMA sausage is smoked in the traditional way. According to the chain, they are smoked indirectly with wood smoke, where the smoldering wood is outside the smoking chamber.