Green tea comes from the Camellia sinensis botanical, with leaves containing compounds called catechins, the main substance being epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). These green tea catechins are widely consumed in the form of herbal teas, reconstituted beverages and dietary supplements containing green tea extracts of varying concentrations.
Following the latest scientific data exposing the potential harmful effects of a large amount of EGCG on the liver (liver damage), the European Commission has recently decided to limit the use of green tea extracts in order to ensure consumers’ food safety.
Published on 30 November 2022, the new EU regulation 2022/2340 is applicable since 21 December 2022 (1):
Many manufacturers use our green tea powder extract in their formulations. In order not to exceed the newly authorised daily dose, the quantities and dosages will have to be revised to guarantee finished products that comply with the regulations in force.
This implies that our customers need to know precisely the concentration of EGCG in our green tea extracts in order to verify their possible applications and legally integrate them in their finished products.
In order to support our customers having to comply with this new European regulation, Natural Origins has a competent quality department available to answer these concerns. Indeed, our Quality and Regulatory department manager, Anne-Sophie Soteras (2) expresses herself on this subject and specifies below various essential points:
This scientific information on the quantity of EGCG in our extracts can be consulted at any time in the technical data sheets relating to each botanical that we make available to our customers:
At Natural Origins we provide our customers with the information they need to comply with the new regulations based on our analyses and controls. Our customers can confidently, safely and effectively guarantee complete food safety for consumers, in accordance with the latest European regulations.
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Sources :
(1) Regulation (EU) 2022/2340 of the Commission of 30 November 2022 amending annex III to regulation (EC) No 1925/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards green tea extracts containing (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (Text with EEA relevance)
C/2022/8592 JO L 310 du 1.12.2022, p. 7–11 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2022/2340/oj