“Nor-Grape 80 is the first and only dry grape extract that has received authorization from the EU,” said the company.
Nor-Feed said the decision was voted unanimously by the Plants Committee of the Animal Nutrition and Veterinary Medicines (ANVM) during a regulatory session, on 14 and 15 November 2016.
It was preceded by the positive opinion published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in June 2016 and the evaluation of Nor-Feed methods of analysis by the European Reference Laboratory (EURL), in March last year.
The additive, a mixture of two extracts from seeds and the skin of Vitis vinifera subsp. Vinifera, contains, as its dominant constituent, the proanthocyanidin-rich seed extract, which is recognized to provide flavor in food, and its function in feed would “be essentially the same," concluded the Parma based EU risk assessor.
"The presence of the dry grape extract on the official EU register is for us - and our customers - the guarantee that our product is duly standardized and based on sound and validated scientific bases," said Alexia Lepont, head of quality and regulatory affairs, Nor-Feed.
Since the authorization was based on the results provided by Nor-Feed, it is its methods of analysis and characterization of active substances such as total polyphenols, proanthocyanidins, and anthocyanins that will be used for the evaluation of possible future grape extracts looking for the same approval.
Registration approach
For now, only the abstract part of the scientific opinion on that dry grape extract has been published by EFSA.
CEO of that Angers headquartered company, Olivier Clech, told us last June Nor-Feed had asked that, for competition purposes, no data should be released in relation to how it ensures consistency in its extracts, hence the delay in publication of the remainder of the document.
The French producer had requested ‘flavoring additive’ status for its dry grape extract to try and secure EU authorization, said Clech. “It is the entry level claim for plant extracts,” he said.
Clech said it had taken the company almost six years to get this approval.
Nor-Feed, he said, did all the work on the EFSA dossier. It purposely did not submit an application in combination with other plant extract producers, he continued. “A lot of those consortium led additive authorization applications have failed due, we think, to the fact that they are trying to bind together a combination of different types of extracts,” said Clech.
The French producer also submitted dossiers on a citrus extract and Melissa extract back in 2010.