Codex agrees food supplement additive levels
At a March meeting in Beijing, a Codex committee advised levels for allura red AC (300 mg/kg); caramel colour, class IV (20,000 mg/kg); carotenoids (300 mg/kg); chlorophylls, copper complexes (500 mg/kg); erythrosine (300 mg/kg); fast green FCF (600 mg/kg); grape skin extracts (500 mg/kg); indigotine (300 mg/kg) and iron oxides (7,500 mg/kg).
The recommendations will be reviewed by the Codex Commission in June and are consistent with recommendations of the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA).
“We are satisfied with the outcome,” said David Pineda, IADSA’s director of regulatory affairs. “The alternative of deleting key additives from the General Standard for Food Additives list or adopting very low levels would have created both considerable confusion in many countries and significant barriers to trade.”
The Codex Committee has approved levels for BHA, BHT, carnauba wax, castor oil, polysorbates, polyvinyl alcohol, acesulfame potassium, aspartame, cyclamates, neotame, saccharin, sucralose, ponceau 4R and sunset yellow FCF that have been consistent with IADSA’s own recommendations.
Further colours and additives remain under consideration and have been referred to the next Codex Committee on Food Additives meeting in 2010 for discussion.
Pineda added: “The establishment of a list of additives to be used freely in trade in food products has long been a goal for Codex, and we are pleased to help contribute to its work to improve the General Standard for Food Additives. Our aim is to ensure that the adopted levels are both safe for consumers and consistent with those widely used by the global food supplement industry.”
