Almost 80 participants accepted the invitation to the symposium of the AG Additives of the Food Chemistry Society on dietary fibres in March. The Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) offered a comprehensive programme. The programme covered all aspects of this topic, which is currently the subject of intense debate at various levels.
The auditorium was welcomed by Dr Bernd Haber (BASF, Ludwigshafen) and Prof Dr Daniel Wefers, MLU, and so Jürgen Sieg (J. Rettenmaier & Söhne GmbH + Co KG (JRS), Rosenberg) started with an overview of the production of concentrated dietary fibres. The structural elements of the plant cell wall and/or storage elements have many faces when it comes to solubility, fermentability, viscosity and matrix. In addition, there are the sources and the function within the plant according to the stage of development. Fibre is extracted from wheat, oats, citrus fruits, psyllium seeds, cocoa shells, peas and carrots, among others, using physical, enzymatic and chemical processes.
Dr Andreas Nagel (JRS) focused on their use. He explained which dietary fibres are suitable for which product groups. Inulin, for example, is well suited for desserts and ice cream, drinks, baked goods and snacks, while psyllium is used in breakfast cereals and vegan analogue products. Citrus fibres, on the other hand, are used in sauces and dairy products as well as baked goods and snacks.
Prof Dr Mirko Bunzel (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) spoke about analytical methods and chemical diversity. Analysis is difficult because the solutions are not always very meaningful. The answer to the question of fibre content can vary depending on the issue at hand. According to the Codex Alimentarius, the decision as to whether carbohydrates with three to nine monomer units should be included is left to the national authorities. This inevitably leads to different values. For example, the EU, UK, Switzerland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, but also China, India, Japan and South Korea consider fibre to be present from three monomer units, whereas in South Africa and many Latin American and Asian countries, fibre is only present when ten units are combined.
Dr Julia Scherb-Forster (LGL Bayern, Oberschleißheim) and Dr Julia Gelbert (Lebensmittelverband Deutschland, Berlin) gave a lecture on "Questions of interpretation of food law from the perspective of food monitoring and the food industry". There was predominantly agreement. However, the categorisation is partly in the area of conflict between additive, novel food, nutrient and characteristic food ingredient. To facilitate categorisation, a decision tree will be made available and published by the ALS.
