Food Chemicals Codex specifications

The Food Chemicals Codex defines food-grade quaUty for the identity and purity of chemicals used in food products. In the United States, the FDA adopts many of the Food Chemicals Codex specifications as the legal basis for food-grade quaUty of flavor and food chemicals. 

Table 4. Food Chemicals Codex Specifications for Sodium Nitrate ...

Specifications for sulfuric acid vary rather widely. Exceptions include the federal specifications for "Sulfuric Acid, Technical" and "Sulfuric Acid, Electrolyte (for storage batteries)" and the Food Chemicals Codex specification for sulfuric acid, frequentiy called food-grade acid (although industrywide, "food-grade" is nonspecific). Very Httie has been done to estabUsh industry-wide analytical standards in the United States, except for development of the ASTM analytical methods, designated as E223-88 and summarized in Table 12. 

Table 4. National Formulary And Food Chemicals Codex Specifications...

Ingredients. Ingredients used in the manufacture of carbonated beverages must meet all Food Chemical Codex specifications and be approved for use in soft drinks by the FDA. In addition to the government stated specifications, manufacturers of carbonated beverages may complete additional analyses based on specific needs or concerns. 

Food Chemicals Codex specifications, comprising the Description, Requirements, and Tests, are presented in monograph form (Section 2) or tabular form (Section 3) for each substance or group of related substances. They are designed to ensure that food additives have a sufficiently high level of... 

Table I Food Chemicals Codex specifications for ceratonia.

NF (conforms to National Formulary specifications) FCC (Food Chemicals Codex specifications) Other common grade designations are chemical, commercial, feed, food, injectable, nitration, purified, radio, research, semiconductor, spectro, technical (industrial chemicals). 

Standards for food-grade chemicals in the United States are set by the Committee on Eood Chemicals Codex of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) which pubHshes them in the Food Chemicals Codex (ECC) (6) (see also Eood additives). Standards for laboratory reagents are set by the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Analytical Reagents and are pubHshed in Feagent Chemicals—A.CS Specifications (7). Standards for electronic-grade chemicals, which have extremely low limits for trace ions, are pubHshed aimually in The Book of SEMI Standards (BOSS) by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI) (8). 

Properties. Limited data are available for the types or grades of commercial agar which is usually in the form of chopped shreds, sheets, flakes, granules, or powder. The official specifications for agar are provided in the USP (12) and the Food Chemicals Codex (13). 

Specifications and Analysis. R%-MaHc acid that is sold in the United States meets the specifications of the Food Chemicals Codex and National Formulary, which are Hsted in Table 5 (40,41). MaHc acid is available in the following U.S. standard sieve sizes ... 

Committee on Codex Specifications, Food Chemicals Codex, 3d ed.. National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., 1981. 

At least six specifications of standards for granulated sugar quaUty are appHcable ia the United States. These include Codex JUimentarius Food Chemicals Codex (ECC) (4), US. Pharmacopeia (USP) and National Formula (NE) (5), National Soft Drink Association (6), National Canners Association, and Mihtary Standard-900 for white sugar. These standards are intended to set limits on various components, including, but not necessarily limited to, polarization, invert or reducing sugar, ash, moisture, color, sulfur dioxide, arsenic, lead, and copper. 

Nutrients and diet supplements without claims of therapeutic effects are considered foods, and are thus regulated by the U.S. Food and Dmg Administration. These are further subject to specific food regulations. Specifications for pyridoxine hydrochloride (7) for foods are given in the Food Chemicals Codex (80) and for pharmaceuticals in the US. Pharmacopeia (81). General test methods have been summarized (82). 

Label claims for tocopherol levels in preparations can be based on milligrams or International Units. Only the RRR or all-rac-International Units ate also used in some reference books and compendia, eg. Food Chemicals Codex (40,53), which is of particular importance for specifications for food fortification. 

Specifications of the NationalFormula and the Food Chemicals Codex are identical. 

National Research Council, Assembly of Life Sciences, Division of Biological Sciences, Food and Nutiition Boaid, and Committee on Codex Specifications, Food Chemicals Codex 3id ed.. National Academy Piess, Washiagton, D.C., 1981, pp. 70, 71. 

Specifications and Standards Test Methods. Ethylcellulose is cleared foi many apphcations in food and food contact under the Eedeial Eood, Dmg, and Cosmetic Act, as amended. Examples include binder in dry vitamin preparations for animal feed, coatings and inks for paper and paperboard products used in food packaging, and closures with sealing gaskets for food containers (44). Methods of analyses ate given in ASTM D914-72 (19), NationalFonmila XIV, and Food Chemicals Codex II. 

Specifications and Standards Test Methods. Pood-grade HPC products are manufactured for use in food and conform to the specifications for HPC set forth in CPR 21, Section 172.870. Pood grades of HPC also conform to the specifications for HPC as Usted in the current edition of the Food Chemicals Codex. 

Both recycled and non-recycled essential oils met the standards for specific gravity, angular rotation and refractive index of the Food Chemicals Codex [22] and United States Pharmacopeia [23] for cold-pressed lemon peel oil. Results of gas chromatography analysis show the same compounds and levels in both systems, specially for the oxygenated compounds as citral (neral and geranial). Therefore, recycling the aqueous discharges to the extractor does not cause undesirable modifications. 

While the above EU Directive lists the criteria only, the JECFA specifications refer to analytical methods in a Guide to Specifications35 or describe the analytical method in the specification monograph itself. Similarly, the Food Chemicals Codex lists and describes the necessary analytical methods for purity control. 

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