Outcome of the consultation with Member States and EFSA on the basic substance application for potassium sorbate for use in plant protection as fungicide on citrus, stone and pome fruits

Abstract

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) was asked by the European Commission to provide scientific assistance with respect to the evaluation of applications received by the European Commission concerning basic substances. In this context, EFSA's scientific views on the specific points raised during the commenting phase conducted with Member States and EFSA on the basic substance application for potassium sorbate are presented. The context of the evaluation was that required by the European Commission in accordance with Article 23 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 following the submission of an application for approval of potassium sorbate as a basic substance for use in plant protection as fungicide. The current report summarises the outcome of the consultation process organised by EFSA and presents EFSA's scientific views on the individual comments received. © European Food Safety Authority, 2017Keywords: potassium sorbate, basic substance, application, consultation, plant protection, pesticide, fungicide In March 2013, the European Commission requested the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to provide scientific assistance with respect to the evaluation of applications received by the European Commission concerning basic substances. By a further specific request, received from the European Commission in February 2017, EFSA was asked to organise a consultation on the basic substance application for potassium sorbate, to consult the applicant on the comments received, and to deliver its scientific views on the specific points raised in the format of a reporting table within three months of acceptance of the specific request. Requestor: European CommissionA consultation on the basic substance application for potassium sorbate, organised by EFSA, was conducted with Member States via a written procedure in November 2016-January 2017. Subsequently, EFSA also provided comments and the applicant was invited to address all the comments received in the format of a reporting table and to provide an application update as appropriate, within a period of 30 days.The current report summarises the outcome of the consultation process organised by EFSA on the basic substance application for potassium sorbate and presents EFSA's scientific views on the individual comments received in the format of a reporting The product to be used is a soluble concentrate containing 500 g/L potassium sorbate.The intended uses of potassium sorbate as a fungistatic substance are post-harvest applications by dipping or drenching on citrus, pome fruits and stone fruits against fungi and moulds.The toxicological profile of potassium sorbate has been assessed at EU level as a food additive and biocide. As a food additive, the EFSA ANS Panel set a temporary acceptable daily intake (ADI) of 3 mg/kg bw per day (EFSA ANS Panel, 2015). As biocide (ECHA BPC, 2014), the RMS Germany set an acceptable exposure level (AEL) of 13.4 mg/kg bw per day (Germany, 2015). ECHA RAC (2013) proposed classification and labelling of potassium sorbate as Eye irri...