Novel food: wider specification for partially defatted rapeseed powder — protein from 28 % (was 33 %), fat from 10 % (was 14 %), moisture below 11 % (was 7 %), ash below 8 % with no lower limit; a new process with lactic acid bacteria fermentation without an EFSA assessment
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/682, published on 9 April 2025, replaces in Table 2 of the Union list of novel foods (Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2470) the specification of “partially defatted rapeseed powder from Brassica rapa L. and Brassica napus L.”, authorised by Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/120. The application of 19 October 2023 was submitted by Ferm Food ApS; the Commission considered that the changes do not affect the safety assessed by EFSA in 2020 and did not request a new assessment.
- New specification (values from 2021/120 in brackets): protein (N × 6.25) 28.0–43.0 % (33.0–43.0 %), fat 10.0–22.0 % (14.0–22.0 %), total carbohydrates 33.0–45.0 % (33.0–40.0 %), total dietary fibre 33.0–46.0 % (33.0–43.0 %), moisture < 11.0 % (< 7.0 %), ash < 8.0 % (2.0–5.0 %). Carbohydrates are calculated by difference 100 % − [protein + moisture + fat + ash], and fibre is determined by the enzymatic-gravimetric method AOAC 2011.25.
- Unchanged: total glucosinolates < 0.3 mmol/kg (≤ 120 mg/kg), phytate < 1.5 %, peroxide value ≤ 3.0 mEq O₂/kg, lead, inorganic arsenic and cadmium < 0.2 mg/kg, mercury < 0.1 mg/kg, aluminium < 35.0 mg/kg; total plate count (30 °C) < 5 000 CFU/g, Enterobacteriaceae < 10 CFU/g, Salmonella absent in 25 g, yeasts and moulds < 100 CFU/g, Bacillus cereus < 100 CFU/g. The definition still refers to processing steps reducing glucosinolates and phytate.
- The applicant’s justification: yield fluctuations, different oil mills and pressing methods, raw material from winter and spring harvests; the lower protein limit is to allow more press cake intended for feed to be turned into food, the lower fat limit responds to demand for low-fat food, and the higher moisture to less energy-intensive drying; as the peroxide value limit is unchanged, according to the applicant the risk of oxidation does not increase.
- Ferm Food ApS process: partially defatted press cake bought from EU rapeseed oil producers is fermented with a mixture of lactic acid bacteria, without the washing, filtration, centrifugation and acidification steps described in the 2020 EFSA opinion (EFSA Journal 2020;18(7):6197); the by-product is lactic acid. The original 2021 authorisation — on an application by Avena Nordic Grain Oy — covers, among others, cereal bars and muesli up to 20 g/100 g and a mandatory label warning for people allergic to mustard.