Skip to main content
SLU publication database (SLUpub)

Research article2017Peer reviewedOpen access

Update of the list of QPS-recommended biological agents intentionally added to food or feed as notified to EFSA 5: suitability of taxonomic units notified to EFSA until September 2016

Ricci, Antonia; Allende, Ana; Bolton, Declan; Chemaly, Marianne; Davies, Robert; Girones, Rosina; Koutsoumanis, Kostas; Herman, Lieve; Lindqvist, Roland; Norrung, Birgit; Robertson, Lucy; Ru, Giuseppe; Sanaa, Moez; Simmons, Marion; Skandamis, Panagiotis; Snary, Emma; Speybroeck, Niko; Ter Kuile, Benno; Threlfall, John; Wahlstrom, Helene;
Show more authors

Abstract

EFSA was requested to assess the safety of a broad range of biological agents in the context of notifications for market authorisation as sources of food and feed additives, enzymes and plant protection products. The qualified presumption of safety (QPS) assessment was developed to provide a harmonised generic pre-assessment to support safety risk assessments performed by EFSA's Scientific Panels. The safety of unambiguously defined biological agents (at the highest taxonomic unit appropriate for the purpose for which an application is intended) and the completeness of the body of knowledge were assessed. Safety concerns identified for a taxonomic unit are, where possible and reasonable in number, reflected as 'qualifications' in connection with a recommendation for a QPS status. A total of 57 biological agents were notified to EFSA between the end of April 2016 and the beginning of September 2016. From these, 34 biological agents already had a QPS status and did not require further evaluation, and 10 were not included in the evaluation as they are filamentous fungi or enterococci, biological groups which have been excluded from QPS evaluation since 2014. Three notifications for Streptomyces violaceoruber, one for Streptomyces albus, one for Bacillus circulans and four for Escherichia coli were not evaluated for QPS status because these species were recently assessed and considered not suitable for QPS status. Therefore, only four notifications related to three taxonomic units were evaluated for QPS status. Of these, Arthrobacter ramosus and Pseudomonas fluorescens are not recommended for the QPS list. Bacillus smithii is recommended for the QPS status. (C) 2017 European Food Safety Authority. EFSA Journal published by John Wiley and Sons Ltd on behalf of European Food Safety Authority.

Keywords

safety; QPS; bacteria; yeast; Arthrobacter ramosus; Bacillus smithii; Pseudomonas fluorescens

Published in

EFSA Journal
2017, Volume: 15, number: 3, article number: 4663

    UKÄ Subject classification

    Pharmacology and Toxicology
    Microbiology
    Food Science

    Publication identifier

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4663

    Permanent link to this page (URI)

    https://res.slu.se/id/publ/96119