Codex Committee on Food Additives

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. 

The Joint FAOAVHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) includes Functional Use in the specifications published in Food and Nutrition Paper 52 and its Addenda. JECFA includes an indication of the functional use or uses, as part of its specifications of purity of additives. JECFA has developed these as part of the description of the additive, and although JECFA provides advice on specifications to the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, the uses quoted in those specifications are not necessarily the same as the functions given for the same substance in the Codex INS system. Frequently more than one use is listed and these uses often refer to countries outside the EU, and may not include the reason for use listed by the EU. The various categories, uses or classes of additive used by the EU, INS and JECFA are listed in Table 11.2. With minor exceptions, the JECFA functional uses marked with an asterisk are generally regarded as processing aids and not additives and therefore outside the scope of this volume. 

Codex Alimentarius Commission (2003). Schedule 1 of the Proposed Draft Codex General Standard for Contaminants and Toxins in Food. Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme. Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, Thirty-fifth Session, Arusha, Tanzania. 

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) was established in 1955 to consider chemical, toxicological, and other aspects of contaminants and residues of veterinary drugs in foods for human consumption. The Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants and the Codex Committee on Residues of Veterinary Dmgs in Foods identify food additives, contaminants, and veterinary drug residues that should receive priority evaluation and refer them to JECFA for assessment before incorporating them into Codex standards. 

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. 

Commitment that a dossier will be available for evaluation by JECFA Criteria adopted by Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants. 

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. 

The Codex Committee on Food Additives of the WHO/FAO has for many years given "temporary endorsement" to a large number of substances, particularly the flavor materials on Codex Lists B1 and B2. This was done for one of the following reasons the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) did not allocate ADI levels mainly because of lack of "adequate" classical toxicological or specification data (these were placed on list Bl), or the materials were never evaluated by JECFA (these were placed on list B2). 

H. Cheftel, Tin in Food, Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program, 4th Meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Additives, PEPT, 1967, Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Branch (Codex Alimentarius), FAO, Rome. 

When the CAC was formed it decided to utilize the expert scientific advice provided by JECFA on matters relating to the toxicological and specifications activities of food additives. A system was established whereby the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, a general subject committee, identified food additives that should receive priority attention, which were then referred to JECFA for assessment before being considered for inclusion in Codex food standards. 

In the Codex Procedure Manual 13 edition (2003), it is clearly written that All provisions in respect of food additives (including processing aids) and contaminants contained in Codex commodity standards should be referred to the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants preferably after the standards have been advanced to step 5 of the Procedure for the Elaboration of Codex Standards or before they are considered by the Commodity Committee concerned at Step 7, though such reference should not be allowed to delay the progress of the Standard to the subsequent Steps of the Procedure. ... 

All provisions in respect of food additives will require to be endorsed by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, on the basis of technological justification submitted by the commodity committees and of the recommendations of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives concerning the safety-in-use (acceptable daily intake (ADI) and other restrictions) and an estimate of the potential and, where possible, the actual intake of the food additives, ensuring conformity with the General Principles for the Use of Food Additives . 

Codex Alimentarius Commission (2006) Report of the thirty-eightii session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants, 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.]sp year=06). 

At its present meeting, the Committee was requested by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants to review all data necessary for toxicological re-evaluation, including specific data relevant to the safety assessment for infants aged 0-6 months, from exposure through infant formulas (Codex Alimentarius Commission, 2006a). 

At the request of the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants at its thirty-eighth session (Codex Alimentarius Commission, 2006), the Committee evaluated the enzyme isoamylase (glycogen a-1,6-glucanohydrolase EC 3.2.1.68). Isoamylase catalyses the hydrolysis of 1,6-a-D-glucosidic branch linkages in glycogen, amylopectin and their beta-limit dextrine. It has no or only limited activity on linear polysaccharides linked by a-1,6-glycosidic bonds (e.g. pullulan) and on alpha-limit dextrine. 

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