Why hotdogs and other Norwegian staples will have to change due to EU rules
An EU crackdown on smoke flavourings will mean that a number of popular foods in Norway, such as hotdogs, bacon, ham, and spreads, will all need to switch out ingredients.
The
European Commission
decided in 2024 that eight smoke flavourings will need to be phased out and no longer permitted for use due to cancer risks.
While Norway isn't a member of the EU, it is tied to the bloc through its membership in the European Economic Area (EEA). Norway's food rules are closely aligned with the EU's due to its membership in the EEA, meaning Norwegian producers must comply with the new regulations.
Smoke flavouring is typically added to foods to give them a smokey taste and colour. It was initially seen as a safer alternative to smoking food, which also carries cancer risks.
'[The] risk assessment from the European Food Safety Authority concluded that smoke aromas contain substances that may be genotoxic. This means that they can cause cancer in humans by damaging genetic material,' Ellen Kielland, from the chemical food safety section at the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, told public broadcaster
NRK
.
The flavouring is added to meats, cheeses, condiments, spreads, crisps and even some drinks, Kielland said.
Food producers said they had already begun tweaking products to comply with the ban.
'We are currently looking at alternative production methods,' Marthine Haugan Petersen, communications advisor for food producer Notura, told NRK.
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'Smoke flavouring has long been considered the most health-friendly technology for adding a smoky flavour to products, but we will, of course, adapt our production to the new guidelines from the EU,' Petersen added.
Norgesgruppen has said it has also started phasing out smoke flavourings in several of its products but that it hadn't begun the process of removing the soon-to-be banned ingredients from its meat products.
The deadline to phase out the smoke flavourings depends on the product type, with meats and cheese products
having a much longer
deadline, 2029, than other products.
Meanwhile, other foods will need to comply with the rules from July 1st of next year.
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