Safety of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters

Fatty Acid Methyl Esters are widely applied indirectly in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and industrial applications. Numerous volumes of these materials are shipped regularly by sea and care needs to be taken to avoid contamination with noxious materials that could effect the safety of the final product and effect the processing of the oleochemical itself. Because of it oleochemical producers ensure that when shipping by sea the immediate previous cargo is on either of the Acceptable Immediate Previous Cargo lists set up by FOSFA and NIOP. The former is recognised in principle in Directive 96/3/EC. Methyl esters themselves are on both the FOSFA and the NIOP lists and provide useful safe previous cargoes for the shipment of oils and fats intended for use in food products following further processing.

The European Oleochemicals and Allied Products Group were surprised and concerned when an SCF AD Hoc Group proposed the removal of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters from the list of Acceptable Immediate Previous Cargoes appended to Directive 96/3/EC. This group of products have generally been thouht safe and have already been given Regulatory Clearance for a wide range of direct and indirect food uses. Indeed the SCF's First Report on Chemically Defined Flavouring Substances (November 1995) lists methyl esters from the butyrate to the myristate in Category 1 (substances considered safe to use), the safest of the 5 categories used.

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