Gaio^® tagatose has today been approved as a Novel Food Ingredient in the EU.

It has just been announced that the EU novel food application for Gaio^® tagatose has been approved with immediate effect.

The EU novel food application for Gaio^® tagatose was formally accepted by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), U.K this spring. In September the UK's initial opinion was forwarded by the European Commission to Member States for comment. As no objections were received, on 14 December 2005 the Agency informed that D-Tagatose may now be marketed in the EU.

The approval of D-tagatose comes about 9 1/2 months after the novel food application has been lodged with the FSA. So far, no other novel food has obtained authorisation in the EU that fast.

In the US, the FDA has accorded an energy value of 6 kJ/g (1.5 kcal/g) to tagatose already. In the EU, the allocation of a specific energy value, which differs from that of traditional sugars (17 kJ/g or 4 kcal/g), requires a separate regulatory action, which will be initiated shortly. It also remains to be determined by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) whether tagatose may be exempt from labelling with regard to its milk origin for informing consumers with milk allergy about the provenience of this sugar.

The EU authorisation of tagatose does not stipulate any restrictions of use. However, since tagatose is absorbed only slowly and incompletely, the consumption of excessive amounts may produce the same intestinal side-effects that are known to occur after the consumption of excessive amounts of polyols. Products which contain more than 15 g tagatose per serving and beverages with a tagatose content of more than 1% must, therefore, carry an information statement as is known and in use already for polyol containing products.

The approval is an important recognition of Gaio^® tagatose as a novel food ingredient, and provides access to a large and very important market. Based on the current authorisation chocolate and dairy based products are natural segments for use as a bulk sweetener offering healthy effects like low glycemic and pre-biotic properties. Alternatively it can be used in small doses as a flavour enhancer in combination with high intense sweeteners improving the overall sweetness and flavour perception.

Another important segment for flavour enhancement is milk chocolate where studies demonstrate excellent properties of Gaio^® tagatose – creating a delicious toffee crumb-like taste and creamy mouth feel at a dosage of less than 2%. Gaio^® tagatose contributes to the Maillard reaction in combination with milk proteins that is largely responsible for giving crumb-based milk chocolate its distinctive taste. Studies have found that no other sugar can match this Maillard-created flavour profile.

See Food Standard Agency and the authorisation letter at ACNFP for further information.

The authorisation letter has been published on the FSA website for more information please click here.