Additives, Flavourings, Contaminants and Residues: Food Additives

1 Introduction

Sections 7 to 9 of the Food Safety Act 1990 and Article 14 of Regulation (EC) 178/2002 provide the framework for general food safety law. In addition, there are specific measures which deal with the chemical safety of food and control the extent to which certain groups of substances may be present in or on food. These groups comprise additives, flavourings, contaminants and residues. This document covers food additives, the first of these groups.

 

2 Food Additives

The food additives which may be used in foods for human consumption are governed by Regulation (EC) 1333/2008 on food additives. Article 3(2)(a) defines ‘food additive’ as:

… any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or storage of such food results, or may be reasonably expected to result, in it or its by-products becoming directly or indirectly a component of such foods.

Food additives are substances added to food to perform particular technological functions in certain foods, subject to specific quantitative limits, for example, to colour, sweeten or help preserve food. The 27 functional classes of food additives are as follows:

1. ‘Sweeteners’ used to impart a sweet taste to foods or in table-top sweeteners.

2. ‘Colours’ which add or restore colour in a food, including natural constituents of foods and natural sources which are normally not consumed as foods as such and not normally used as characteristic ingredients of food.

3. ‘Preservatives’ which prolong the shelf-life of foods.

4. ‘Antioxidants’ which prolong shelf-life by protecting against deterioration caused by oxidation.

5. ‘Carriers’ are substances used to dissolve, dilute, disperse or otherwise physically modify a food additive or flavouring, food enzyme, nutrient and/or other substance added for nutritional or physiological purposes without altering its function in order to facilitate its handling, application or use.

6. ‘Acids’ increase acidity and/or impart a sour taste.

7. ‘Acidity regulators’ alter or control the acidity or alkalinity of foods.

8. ‘Anti-caking agents’ reduce the tendency of individual particles of a foodstuff to adhere to one another.

9. ‘Anti-foaming agents’ prevent or reduce foaming.

10. ‘Bulking agents’ contribute to the volume of a foodstuff without contributing significantly to its available energy value.

11. ‘Emulsifiers’ make it possible to form or maintain a homogenous mixture of two or more immiscible phases such as oil and water in a foodstuff.

12. ‘Emulsifying salts’ convert proteins in cheese into a dispersed form to bring about the homogenous distribution of fat and other components.

13. ‘Firming agents’ make or keep fruit and/or vegetables firm or crisp, or interact with gelling agents to produce or strengthen a gel.

14. ‘Flavour enhancers’ enhance the existing taste and/or odour of a foodstuff.

15. ‘Foaming agents’ make it possible to form a homogenous dispersion of a gaseous phase in a liquid or solid foodstuff.

16. ‘Gelling agents’ are substances which give a foodstuff texture through formation of a gel.

17. ‘Glazing agents’ (including lubricants) impart a shiny appearance or provide a protective coating to a foodstuff.

18. ‘Humectants’ prevent foods from drying out by counteracting the effect of an atmosphere having a low degree of humidity, or promote the dissolution of a powder in an aqueous medium.

19. ‘Modified starches’ are obtained from the chemical treatment of edible starches and may be acid or alkali thinned or bleached.

20. ‘Packaging gases’ are gases other than air, introduced into a container before, during or after placing a foodstuff in the container.

21. ‘Propellants’ are gases other than air which expel a foodstuff from a container.

22. ‘Raising agents’ liberate gas and increase the volume of a dough or a batter.

23. ‘Sequestrants’ form chemical complexes with metallic ions.

24. ‘Stabilisers’ make it possible to maintain the physico-chemical state of a foodstuff.

25. ‘Thickeners’ increase the viscosity of a foodstuff.

26. ‘Flour treatment agents’ are added to flour or dough to improve baking quality.

27. ‘Contrast enhancers’, when applied to the external surface of fruit or vegetables following depigmentation of predefined parts, help distinguish these parts from the remaining surface.

The inclusion of a food additive within a functional class does not preclude it from being used for several different functions.¹

Only those food additives which have been approved and listed in Regulation (EC) 1333/2008² may be used. The list includes the name of the food additive and its E number, the foods to which the additive may be added, the conditions under which it may be used and any restrictions on the sale of the additive directly to the final consumer. No food additive or food in which such a food additive is present may be placed on the market if the use of the additive does not comply with Regulation (EC) 1333/2008.³

A food additive may be approved and listed only if it meets the following conditions⁴ and, where relevant, other legitimate factors, including environmental factors:

1. It does not, on the basis of the available scientific evidence, pose a safety concern to the health of the consumer at the level of use proposed.

2. There is a reasonable technological need that cannot be achieved by other economically and technologically practicable means.

3. Its use does not mislead the consumer.

In addition, a food additive must serve⁵ one of the following purposes:

1. Preserving the nutritional quality of the food, except in cases where the food does not constitute a significant component of a normal diet or where necessary for the production of foods for groups of consumers with special dietary needs.

2. Providing necessary ingredients or constituents for foods manufactured for groups of consumers with special dietary needs.

3. Enhancing the keeping quality or stability of a food or improving its organoleptic properties, provided that the nature, substance or quality of the food is not changed in such a way as to mislead the consumer.

4. Aiding in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, transport or storage of food, including food additives, food enzymes and food flavourings, provided that the food additive is not used to disguise the effects of the use of faulty raw materials or of any undesirable practices or techniques, including unhygienic practices or techniques, during the course of any such activities.

In determining the conditions of use of a food additive, the level of use must be set at the lowest level necessary to achieve the desired effect, taking into account any acceptable daily intake for the additive and probable intake from all sources. Where used in foods eaten by special groups of consumers, account must be taken of the possible daily intake of the additive by consumers in those groups.

Where appropriate, no maximum numerical level need be fixed for a food additive, in which case the principle of quantum satis applies and it is to be used in accordance with good manufacturing practice, at a level no higher than necessary to achieve the intended purpose and which does not mislead the consumer.⁶

Commission Regulation (EU) 231/2012 lays down specifications for food additives listed in Regulation (EC) 1333/2008.

The European Commission maintains a database of Food Additives which has no legal status but provides a useful tool and information resource about food additives approved for use in food in the EU and their conditions of use.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) maintains a more accessible list of approved additives and their respective E numbers. The list contains 41 colouring, 36 preservative, 18 antioxidant, 19 sweetener, 63 emulsifier, stabiliser, thickener and gelling agent, and around 150 other additives which perform a range of functions.

The FSA has also published guidance which is set out in Food Additives Legislation Guidance to Compliance⁷ on the legal requirements of Regulation (EC) 1333/2008.

The UK Food Guide provides a useful assessment of additives approved for use in food. The E Number Index provides details of the more innocuous to the infamous and suspect additives such as Tartrazine (E102), a yellow colouring strongly associated with allergic and intolerance reactions and over-activity in children.

The use of additives by the processed food industry is invariably driven by cost considerations and the imperative to maximise profit:

… when the home cook decides to make a Bakewell tart, for instance, she or he looks out a recipe, puts together a line-up of well-established ingredients – raspberry jam, flour, butter, whole eggs, almonds, butter and sugar – and then bakes it in a tried-and-tested way. The factory food technologist, on the other hand, approaches this venerable confection from a totally different angle. What alternative ingredients can we use to create a Bakewell tart-style product, while replacing or reducing expensive ingredients – those costly nuts, butter and berries? How can we cut the amount of butter, yet boost that buttery flavour, while disguising the addition of cheaper fats with an inferior taste profile? What sweeteners can we add to lower the tart’s blatant sugar content and justify a ‘reduced calorie’ label? How many times can we re-use the pastry left over from each production run in subsequent ones? What antioxidants could we throw into the mix to prolong the tart’s shelf-life? Which enzyme would keep the almond sponge layer moist for longer? Might we use a long life raspberry purée and gel mixture instead of conventional jam? What about coating the almond sponge layer with an invisible edible film that would keep the almonds crunchy for weeks? Could we substitute some starch for a proportion of the flour to give a more voluminously risen result? Would powdered, rather than pasteurised liquid egg, stick less to the equipment on the production line? Could we use a modified protein to do away with the eggs altogether, or to mimic fat? And so on.⁸

A situation which received judicial consideration when Germany sought to restrict the use of E160f, a synthetic orange-yellow colouring, in sauces and pastries as an alternative to eggs. German law provided that it was prohibited to sell or import foodstuffs without sufficiently precise labelling whose composition diminishes their nutritional value or appearance could lead the purchaser to believe that they are of a superior quality than is in fact the case.⁹

The additive E160f was used in 'hollandaise' and 'béarnaise' sauce, biscuits and pastry products and provided the appearance of eggs when possibly none had been used. The resultant product was, therefore, misleading as to its constituent ingredients and the nutritional content of the product was significantly degraded. In short, the product was not what it appeared to be in terms of appearance and organoleptic qualities. The Court of Justice held that national rules of this nature were incompatible with EU provisions on the free movement of goods. Member States are not at liberty to prevent such deception of consumers.¹⁰

National rules prohibiting the use of additives in particular foods can only be justified where they can clearly be shown to be necessary for the protection of consumer health which is difficult to demonstrate.

2.1 Substances Not Considered Food Additives

The following substances are not considered¹¹ to be food additives:

1. Monosaccharides, disaccharides or oligosaccharides and foods containing these substances used for their sweetening properties.

2. Foods, whether dried or in concentrated form, including flavourings incorporated during the manufacturing of compound foods, because of their aromatic, sapid or nutritive properties together with a secondary colouring effect.

3. Substances used in covering or coating materials, which do not form part of foods and are not intended to be consumed together with those foods.

4. Products containing pectin and derived from dried apple pomace or peel of citrus fruits or quinces, or from a mixture of them, by the action of dilute acid followed by partial neutralisation with sodium or potassium salts (liquid pectin).

5. Chewing gum bases.

6. White or yellow dextrin, roasted or dextrinated starch, starch modified by acid or alkali treatment, bleached starch, physically modified starch and starch treated by amylolitic enzymes.

7. Ammonium chloride.

8. Blood plasma, edible gelatin, protein hydrolysates and their salts, milk protein and gluten.

9. Amino acids and their salts other than glutamic acid, glycine, cysteine and cystine and their salts having no technological function.

10. Caseinates and casein.

11. Inulin.

Furthermore, the Regulation does not apply¹² to the following substances unless they are used as food additives:

1. Processing aids.

2. Substances used for the protection of plants and plant products in accordance with EU rules relating to plant health.

3. Substances added to foods as nutrients (minerals, trace elements, vitamins, etc.).

4. Substances used for the treatment of water for human consumption within the scope of Council Directive 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended for human consumption.

5. Flavourings within the scope of Regulation (EC) 1334/2008 on flavourings and certain food ingredients with flavouring properties for use in and on foods.

In this context ‘processing aid’ means any substance which is not consumed as a food by itself which is intentionally used in the processing of raw materials, foods or their ingredients, to fulfil a certain technological purpose during processing. This may result in the unintentional but technically unavoidable presence in the final product of residues of the substance or its derivatives, provided they do not present any health risk and do not have any technological effect on the final product.¹³

A number of specific exceptions exist where a Member State concerned may continue to prohibit the use of certain categories of food additives in traditional foods produced on their territory.¹⁴

2.2 Sweeteners

A food additive may be listed in the functional class of sweetener¹⁵ only if, in addition to serving one or more of the prescribed purposes,¹⁶ it also serves one or more of the following purposes:

1. Replacing sugars for the production of energy-reduced food, non-cariogenic food or food with no added sugars.

2. Replacing sugars where this permits an increase in the shelf-life of the food.

3. Producing food intended for particular nutritional uses.¹⁷

2.3 Colours

A food additive may be listed in the functional class of colour¹⁸ only if, in addition to serving one or more of the prescribed purposes, it serves one of the following purposes:

1. Restoring the original appearance of food where the colour has been affected by processing, storage, packaging and distribution, whereby visual acceptability may have been impaired.

2. Making food more visually appealing.

3. Giving colour to food otherwise colourless.

Only listed food colours¹⁹ may be used for the purpose of health marking²⁰ fresh meat and other markings required on meat products, for the decorative colouring of eggshells and stamping eggshells.²¹

There is a distinction to be drawn between food colours, which are subject to EU food additives legislation and colouring food extracts, which are not. The Commission has published Guidance Notes on the Classification of Food Extracts with Colouring Properties which describes the criteria that determine the difference between selective and non-selective extraction for the classification of food extracts/concentrates as food colours or colouring foods and proposes a decision tree and checklist to facilitate this classification.²²

 

3 Organic

Regulation (EC) 834/2007 on organic production and the labelling of organic products sets out four overall principles for organic production²³ and in the processing of organic food makes provision for specific principles²⁴ to be applied, in particular:

1. The production of organic food from organic agricultural ingredients, except where an ingredient is not available on the market in organic form.

2. The restriction of the use of food additives, of non-organic ingredients with mainly technological and sensory functions and of micronutrients and processing aids, so they are used to a minimum extent and only in cases of essential technological need or for particular nutritional purposes.

3. The exclusion of substances and processing methods that might be misleading regarding the true nature of the product.

 

4 Labelling Food Additives

4.1 Labelling of Food Additives Not Intended for Sale to the Final Consumer

The packaging or containers of food additives not intended for sale to the final consumer must carry²⁵ the following information:

1. The name and/or E-number listed in Regulation (EC) 1333/2009 of each additive or a sales description which includes the name and/or E-number.

2. The statement ‘for food’ or the statement ‘restricted use in food’ or a more specific reference to its intended food use.

3. If necessary, any special conditions of storage and/or use.

4. A mark identifying the batch or lot.

5. Instructions for use, if their omission would preclude appropriate use of the food additive.

6. The name or business name and address of the manufacturer, packager or seller.

7. An indication of the maximum quantity of each component or group of components subject to quantitative limitation in food expressed either numerically or by the quantum satis principle.

8. The net quantity.

9. The date of minimum durability or use-by-date.

10. Where relevant, information on a food additive otherwise required.

Food additives not intended for sale to the final consumer may only be marketed with the labelling prescribed which must be easily visible, clearly legible and indelible. The information must be in a language easily understood by purchasers.²⁶

Where food additives are sold mixed with each other and/or with other food ingredients, the packaging or containers must list all ingredients in descending order of their percentage by weight of the total.²⁷ Substances added to food additives to facilitate storage, sale, standardisation, dilution or dissolution, all such substances must also be listed in like manner.²⁸

In certain circumstances the information in paragraphs (e) to (g) above and the preceding paragraph may appear merely on documents relating to the consignment supplied with or prior to the delivery, provided the indication ‘not for retail sale’ appears on an easily visible part of the packaging or container.²⁹ Where food additives are supplied in tankers, all of the preceding information may appear merely on accompanying documents relating to the consignment.³⁰

4.2 Labelling of Food Additives Intended for Sale to the Final Consumer

The packaging or containers of food additives not intended for sale to the final consumer must carry³¹ the following information:

1. The name and E-number laid down in Regulation (EC) 1333/2008 in respect of each food additive or a sales description which includes the name and E-number.

2. The statement ‘for food’ or the statement ‘restricted use in food’ or a more specific reference to its intended food use.

There are further specific provisions which apply to table-top sweeteners³² and certain food colours.³³

The labelling of food containing certain food colours,³⁴ including Tartrazine (E102), must include the additional information that it “may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”

The labelling requirements set out above are without prejudice to more detailed or more extensive laws, regulations or administrative provisions regarding weights and measures or applying to the presentation, classification, packaging and labelling of dangerous substances and preparations or applying to the transport of such substances and preparations.³⁵

 

5 Enforcement

Regulation (EC) 1333/2008 is enforced in England by The Food Additives, Flavourings, Enzymes and Extraction Solvents (England) Regulations 2013³⁶ and parallel measures exist in Scotland,³⁷ Wales³⁸ and Northern Ireland.³⁹

Any person who contravenes, or who uses or places on the market a product that fails to comply with, any of the specified provisions⁴⁰ of Regulation (EC) 1333/2008 commits an offence⁴¹ and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale.

The failure to comply with food additive labelling requirements⁴² may lead to the service of a compliance notice with which failure to comply is an offence.⁴³