06 March 2024
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) is calling for comment on an application to vary the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (the Code) to allow a new processing aid from a genetically modified (GM) source.
FSANZ CEO Dr Sandra Cuthbert said the application seeks approval to permit the use of Triacylglycerol lipase as a processing aid in the manufacture of bakery products and other cereal-based products.
“FSANZ found no potential public health and safety concerns with the use of this Triacylglycerol lipase from a GM strain of Trichoderma reesei containing a gene from Thermomyces lanuginosus,” Dr Cuthbert said.
“A microbiological assessment concluded that the host organism has a long history of safe use in food and is not pathogenic.”
The enzyme performs its technological purpose during processing of food and meets relevant identity and purity specifications in the Code.
To have your say about this application, see our call for comment page. Submissions close at 6pm (AEDT) on 17 April 2024.
What happens to my feedback?
Submissions will be published to our website as soon as possible at the end of the public comment period.
FSANZ will consider all feedback received through this submission process before deciding on whether to approve the application.
FSANZ's decision will be notified to ministers responsible for food regulation who can ask for a review or agree that the standard should become law.
More information:
- How to make a submission
- Read the call for submissions and assessment documents: A1284 Triacylglycerol lipase as a processing aid
Media contact:
- 0401 714 265 (Australia)
- +61 401 714 265 (from New Zealand)
- media@foodstandards.gov.au