QPS provides
a mechanism to recognise and give weight to prior
knowledge when assessing the safety of micro-organisms in food and feed production. QPS appears to be applicable
to food, feed, and to microbial products from the
point of view of safety assessment; however there are a
number of issues that need careful consideration before
QPS could be introduced into the European safety
evaluation.
With the exception of those encompassed by the Novel
Food Regulation [Regulation (EC) No. 258/97 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 27 January 1997
concerning novel food and novel food ingredients (OJ No.
L 43, 14.2.1997)], micro-organisms used for fermentation of
food are presently not subject to community regulation. In
contrast, micro-organisms used as feed additives or plant
protect products are comprehensively regulated. This has
led to illogical situations where the same strains used freely
in human foods have been the subject of stringent safety
assessments when seeking community approval as a feed
additive. The QPS approach represents a possible route to
harmonisation of approaches for the safety assessment of
micro-organisms used in feed/food production without
introducing unnecessary measures in areas where there has
been no great concern about safety, while allowing more
important safety concerns to be addressed. Therefore, QPS
is suggested as an operating procedure within EFSA for
risk assessment.
3.3.3. Worker safety assessment
The worker safety of the formulated product should be
addressed. For formulated commercial product should be
examined for irritancy using validated laboratory animal
tests for skin irritation and also for eye irritation in the case
of liquid products. The skin sensitisation potential is also
recommended where there is any reason to suspect that the
preparation contains components that may be able to penetrate
the skin and cause sensitisation. Inhalation toxicity
studies will not be required unless components of the Wnal
products other than the active agents give cause for
concern.
3.3.4. Environmental risk assessment
Because the microbial additive impact on the environment
can be considered negligible, the environmental risk
assessment is only required in exceptional cases. If the
additive contains or consists of a GMOs within the meaning
of article 2 (1) and 2 (2) of Council Directive 2001/18/
EC on the deliberate release of GMOs (OJ L 106, 17.4.2001)
must Wrst satisfy the requirements of the release Directive,
which includes an assessment of any risks for the environment
related to the GMOs. The conditions for the placing
on the market of the additive, including speciWc conditions
of use and handling and a proposal for labelling and packaging
should comprise at least the requirements laid down
in Annex IV of Directive 2001/18/EC (Anadón et al., 2004).
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by a grant from the “Comunidad
de Madrid,” Project S-0505/AGR/000153.