CCFAC, Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants

Abbreviations. WHO, World Health Organization FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization CCFAC, Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants JECFA, Joint Food and Agriculture Organiza-tion/World Health Organization Expert Committee on Food Additives ADI, acceptable daily intake INS, International Numbering System. 

CCFAC Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants... 

The EU Directives 94/35/EC, 94/36/EC and 95/2/EC on sweeteners, colours and food additives other than colours and sweeteners, limit the amounts of certain food additives that can be used and the range of foods in which they are permitted. Similarly, the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) has published its General Standard on Food Additives (GSFA), which lists the maximum use levels recorded world-wide. Care should be taken when using data from the EU Directive annexes or the GSFA because the figures represent the maximum permitted in each food group. In practice, use levels may need to be much lower to achieve the desired technical effect, particularly if used in combination with other additives intended for the same purpose. Furthermore, the additive is unlikely to be used in all foods in which it is permitted because other additives compete for the same function in the marketplace. 

Other chemical contaminants including natural toxins Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) and JECFA. 

Questions concerning contaminants were originally dealt with, partly by the many Commodity Committees, and partly in the Codex Committee for Food Additives, which became in the 1980s - when discussions on contaminants gained more prominence in the deliberations of the Committee - the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC). Now, the CCFAC, which meets every year, normally in The Hague, The Netherlands, is the appropriate forum in Codex for discussions concerning contaminants. 

Within the Codex system, the contaminants considered in this section are mainly dealt with by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC), which is hosted by the Netherlands. Many of the Member States of the European Union are very active in CCFAC. For example, Denmark and the Netherlands have been instrumental in developing the Codex General Standard on Contaminants and Toxins and draft limits for lead in various foods. Sweden has developed a proposal for a limit for ochratoxin A in cereals and cereal products and France has proposed a maximum level for patulin in apple juice. 

Codex Alimentarius Commission (2006a) Report of the thirty-eighth session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC), The Hague, The Netherlands, 24-28 April 2006. Rome, Italy, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (ALINORM 06/29/12 http //www.codexalimentarius.net/web/archives.jsp year=06). 

The source of international food standards. Codex Alimentarius, is pubHshed by the Food and Agricultural Organization and World Health Organization (FAOAVHO) of the United Nations. In Europe, the sources of food standards are EU directives. The Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants (CCFAC) deals with the issue of additives, contaminants and natural toxins in food, and also proposes the Maximum Residue Level (MRL, in mg/kg food) for food additives, for example, in the case of arbitration of the World Trade Organisation. The advisory body of CCFAC is the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), composed of experts from Member States and Associated Countries of the FAO/WHO. Recommendations for the EU come from a committee of experts nominated by an authority called the Scientific Committee for Food (SCF). These recommendations are converted into legislative form in different countries. In the United States, for example, the source of food standards is the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

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