(1)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1798 (2) lays down, inter alia, specific compositional requirements for total diet replacement for weight control that are based on the latest scientific advice (3) of the European Food Safety Authority (‘the Authority’) on the matter.

(2)

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1798 provides that total diet replacement for weight control is to contain at least 11g linoleic acid and 1,4 g alpha-linolenic acid for the total daily ration and that it is not to contain more than 250 mg of magnesium for the total daily ration, as set out in points 4.1, 4.2 and 6 of Annex I to that Regulation.

(3)

On 7 November 2019, the Commission received a request, accompanied by a list of new scientific evidence, from Total Diet & Meal Replacements Europe for the revision of the compositional requirements of linoleic acid, alpha-linolenic acid and magnesium in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1798. On 10 March 2020, the Commission requested the Authority to assess the submitted scientific evidence together with any other relevant new scientific evidence available and, if necessary, to update the conclusions of its latest scientific opinion (4) as regards the minimum levels of linoleic acid and alpha-linolenic acid as well as the maximum level of magnesium in total diet replacement for weight control.

(4)

In its statement of 15 April 2021 on the additional scientific evidence in relation to the essential composition of total diet replacement for weight control (5), the Authority concluded that there is no need to add linoleic acid to total diet replacement for weight control, as the amount released from the adipose tissue during weight loss when consuming total diet replacement for weight control is sufficient to cover the adequate intake for linoleic acid. The Authority further concluded that, while around 40 % of the adequate intake of alpha-linolenic acid could be provided by the release of alpha-linolenic acid from the adipose tissue during weight loss in overweight or obese individuals consuming total diet replacement for weight control, a minimum of 0,8 g/day needs to be supplied by total diet replacement for weight control in order to meet the adequate intake for alpha-linolenic acid. The Authority also concluded that an increase of the total maximum magnesium content in total diet replacement for weight control to 350 mg/day is not of concern. Even if magnesium may induce diarrhoea, the likelihood that magnesium-induced diarrhoea would occur as a result of such intake at a severity that may be considered of concern for overweight or obese individuals consuming total diet replacement for weight control is low, considering that those individuals more often suffer from constipation than diarrhoea.

(5)

On the basis of the conclusions of the Authority, and in order to take into account scientific progress, it is appropriate to abolish the requirement on linoleic acid in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1798, to lower the minimum alpha-linolenic acid content required under that Delegated Regulation and to increase the maximum magnesium content permitted for those products.

(6)

Annex I to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/1798 should therefore be amended accordingly,