Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158Show full title

IX. BABY JAR FOODS (LOW-ACID AND PRUNE-BASED FOODS)(1) U.K.

1. For the production of baby jar foods, FBOs shall choose raw materials with low acrylamide precursor content, e.g. reducing sugars such as fructose and glucose and asparagine. U.K.

2. In case of contract farming, where agricultural products are supplied to FBOs directly by their producers, FBOs shall ensure that the following requirements to prevent elevated asparagine levels in cereals are applied: U.K.

• to follow Good Agricultural Practices on fertilisation, in particular with regard to maintaining balanced sulphur levels in the soil and to ensure a correct nitrogen application;

• to follow Good Phytosanitary Practices in order to ensure the application of good practices on crop protection measures to prevent fungal infection.

FBOs shall carry out controls to verify the effective application of the aforesaid requirements.

3. In prune purée purchase contracts FBOs shall include requirements which ensure that heat treatment regimes in the prune purée manufacturing process are applied that aim to reduce the occurrence of acrylamide in that product. U.K.

4. FBOs shall ensure that heat treated ingredients which are susceptible to acrylamide formation are obtained from suppliers that are able to demonstrate that they have taken the mitigation measures to reduce the presence of acrylamide in those ingredients. U.K.

5. If the use of heat-treated raw materials and ingredients results in that in the final product the benchmark level of acrylamide specified in Annex IV is exceeded, FBOs shall review the use of those materials and ingredients in view of achieving levels of acrylamide as low as reasonably achievable below the benchmark level set out in Annex IV. U.K.

Recipe U.K.

1. FBOs shall take into account in the risk assessment of acrylamide in the foodstuffs concerned that products based on wholegrain cereals and/or with high levels of cereal bran have higher levels of acrylamide. U.K.

2. FBOs shall choose varieties of sweet potatoes and prunes which are as low as possible in acrylamide precursors, such as reducing sugars (e.g. fructose and glucose) and asparagine. U.K.

3. FBOs shall control the addition rates at the point of addition of reducing sugars (e.g. fructose and glucose) and ingredients containing reducing sugars (e.g. honey) added for organoleptic reasons and process functionalities (binding clusters) and which can act as precursors to acrylamide formation when added prior to heat-treatment stages. U.K.

Processing U.K.

1. FBOs shall identify the key heat-treatment step(s) in the process that generate(s) the most acrylamide in order to focus further acrylamide reduction/control efforts most effectively. This has to be achieved either via a risk assessment or by directly measuring the acrylamide levels in the product before and after each heat-treatment step. U.K.

2. To avoid the generation of acrylamide spikes, FBO shall control heating temperatures, times and feed-rates. Feed-rate and temperature control measurement systems should be calibrated regularly and these operating conditions controlled within set limits. These tasks shall be incorporated into the HACCP procedures. U.K.

3. FBOs shall ensure that the lowering of thermal input to reduce acrylamide in low acid and prune based foods do not affect microbiological safety of the foodstuffs concerned. U.K.

(1)

As defined in Regulation (EU) No 609/2013.