Chili pepper’s dehydration coefficient
Following our newsletter nr. 2/09 of the 01/04/2009 in which, in addition to reporting some information related to cases of sampling and seizure operated by the State Forest Rangers operated on batches of dried chili pepper, attention was placed on how the aforementioned institution had interpreted as unfeasible the application of dehydration coefficients in processed foods, regarding revoked active substances – whether or not included in the annexes to EC Regulation 396/05.
In the same document we further reiterated the position taken by Webb James Srl, that is, in compliance with the provisions of article 20, paragraph 1 of the aforementioned Regulation, the application of specific dehydration factor for processed products would be necessary not only for all active substances contained in the annexes, whether revoked or not, but also for the active substances not listed and for which the minimum conventional limit of analytical determination (equal to 0.01 ppm) is foreseen.
However, on 11 May c.m. the Ministry of Health has issued an explanatory note, that we enclose for completeness, which contains the opinion expressed by DG Sanco (General Directorate for Health and Consumers of the European Community), which had been previously asked about the issue concerning the application of the dehydration coefficients. It is a pleasure to inform you that the position taken by Webb James is absolutely correct and in line with what was indicated by DG Sanco, which therefore denied the interpretation initially given by the State Forest Rangers.
Furthermore, we would like to point out that the same note refers to the value of 10 for the concentration factor that must be applied to “dried peppers”, a value that fully complies with the ESA (European Spice Association) in the “Dehydration Factors for Products of the Spice Industry”, a document previously published by Us.
Webb James Srl
