Union Europea - EU Confirms Hydro Protein in Tuna Is Fraudulent

viernes 19 de diciembre de 2003

Europe, December 18, 03

Last Monday EU Commissioner Byrne on behalf of the European Commission answered to questions from a Spanish respresentative that the use of hydro protein in canned tuna is not permitted in the European Union.

The Spanish member of the EU parliament, Suanzes-Carpegna asked the following question to the European commission:

"The production of some types of canned tuna from Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia involves the use of hydrolyzed proteins to increase the drained weight of the product, a practice which might constitute consumer fraud bearing in mind that Community processing firms producing the same types of canned tuna in the EU do not use proteins as part of the production process.

Does the Commission not believe that the use of this protein in the production of the above canned tuna and its subsequent import into the EU might constitute a fraud both against consumers and the Community industry?"

The answer from the Commision on the issue was very clear. According to Commissioner Byrne "the Council Directive 91/493/EEC of 22 July 1991, laying down the health conditions for the production and the placing on the market of fishery products, states what treatments for fishery products are authorised and the procedures to authorise new treatments".

"The use of substances binding excess water in fishery products, such as hydrolysed proteins, is not authorized under this Directive"

"It is up to the Member States, responsible for carrying out veterinary checks on importation, to check that hydrolyzed proteins are not present in fishery products imported from third countries and to take the requisite measures (such as ordering the return of the consignment to its country of origin)".

This position of the EU could have far-going consequences for canned tuna products currently in the market. In some EU markets such as the U.K the use of hydro protein and vegetable broth in canned tuna has been growing substantially. The volume enhancing additives have not only be used in tuna in brine but also in tuna in oil. Not only canners from Asia, are using it.
Also canned tuna from Seychelles, Mauritius, and Ecuador have been found in the market containing hydro protein, or vegetable broth.

Most of these tuna products even mention the use of these additives on the label, being declared as "vegetable extracts". This is because both hydro protein as vegetable broth are based on soybean extracts.

It is not clear on how the EU health authorities will act on the statement of the commission, however we can expect that in the near future there is a chance that incoming containers with HP or VB will be held at port and returned to origin.