Smoke flavourings, SF-007 and SF-010, no longer permitted for use in food from 1 January 2024

Monday, 26 June 2023

Smoking is traditionally used to help preserve certain foods such as fish, meat and dairy products and the smoking process also changes the flavour of foods. Smoke flavourings are produced by thermal degradation of wood and can be added to a range of different foods to give a “smoked” flavour.

All smoke flavourings need to be authorised for use before they can be placed on the EU market. There are currently 10 smoke flavourings authorised for use in the EU. These authorisations will expire on 1 January 2024. Renewal applications must have been submitted 18 months before the authorisation expires, i.e., June 2022.

Two smoke flavourings, SF-007 (Tradismoke™ A MAX) and SF-010 (AM 01) have not applied to renew their authorisation and as a result will no longer be authorised for use in the EU from 1 January 2024. The authorisation holders for SF-007 (Tradismoke™ A MAX) and SF-010 (AM 01) is Nactis in France and AROMARCO, s.r.o, in Slovakia, respectively. According to the provisions of Article 4(2) of Regulation (EC) 2065/2003 no products containing SF-007 or SF-010 should be placed on the market* after the 31 December 2023. Products still under processing or raw materials provided by suppliers containing these two SF are also not permitted for use in the EU from 1 January 2024.

Foods containing SF-007 or SF-010 that were placed on the market* prior to 1 January 2024 may remain on the market until their date of minimum durability or ‘use by’ date.

* "Placing on the market" includes all sales and supplies, including one-off sales, one-off supplies free of charge, and holding food for the purpose of sale. It covers food products which have already been produced by food business operators or imported and are being held with a view to sale or supply free of charge.