Codex Food Additives Committee meeting in Macao, China
This committee establishes or endorses permitted maximum levels for individual food additives. A food additive in Codex is defined as "any substance not normally consumed as a food by itself and not normally used as a typical ingredient of the food".
Adding food and colour ingredients
Additives can be added during the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of a food for technological purposes. This could be for example to colour, to sweeten or to help preserve the food. In the EU food additives are shown on food labels with the symbol "E" and other countries have their own systems.
Codex food additives database
Codex lists all the food additives evaluated in the Codex Alimentarius General Standard for Food Additives. A data base of food additives is available on the JECFA website at FAO.
49th Session held in Macau
Improving collaboration between mainland China and Macau SAR on food safety.
The ruins of St Pauls, a 17th-century complex in Santo António, Macau, China
Speaking ahead of the meeting starting on Monday 20th March, Chairperson Dr Junshi Chen, Professor of the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment underlined the important work of the Food Additives Committee and looked forward to the number of "provisions of the General Standard that will be agreed this week and submitted for adoption by the Commission".
Agenda
Vice Chair Dr Yongxiang Fan noted the efforts the Committee would be making to "prioritise its workload to fulfill the expectations of member countries". He also said he was "looking forward to a very productive discussion to ensure we continue to work at maxiumum efficiency."
A discussion paper on the use of food additives in the production of wine will be presented in Macau. Dr Yongxiang Fan said that "food additives used in grape wine have been discussed for several years. We hope this year some good solutions can be proposed and agreed by the Committee."
For full agenda details go to the CCFA49 webpage.
At the heart of the Codex mandate are the core values of collaboration, inclusiveness, consensus building and transparency. Governmental and non-governmental, public and private organizations alike play a vital role in ensuring Codex texts are of the highest quality and based on sound science.
Codex would have little authority in the field of international standard setting if it did not welcome and acknowledge the valuable contributions made by observers. Expert technical bodies, industry and consumer associations
contribute to the standard-setting process in a spirit of openness, collaboration and transparency.
Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) can apply for observer status in Codex in order to attend and put forward their views at every stage of the standard-setting process.
Current Codex Alimentarius Commission
Codex Food Additives Committee meeting in Macao, China
This committee establishes or endorses permitted maximum levels for individual food additives. A food additive in Codex is defined as "any substance not normally consumed as a food by itself and not normally used as a typical ingredient of the food".
Adding food and colour ingredients
Additives can be added during the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of a food for technological purposes. This could be for example to colour, to sweeten or to help preserve the food. In the EU food additives are shown on food labels with the symbol "E" and other countries have their own systems.
Codex food additives database
Codex lists all the food additives evaluated in the Codex Alimentarius General Standard for Food Additives. A data base of food additives is available on the JECFA website at FAO.
49th Session held in Macau
Improving collaboration between mainland China and Macau SAR on food safety.
The ruins of St Pauls, a 17th-century complex in Santo António, Macau, China
Speaking ahead of the meeting starting on Monday 20th March, Chairperson Dr Junshi Chen, Professor of the China National Center for Food Safety Risk Assessment underlined the important work of the Food Additives Committee and looked forward to the number of "provisions of the General Standard that will be agreed this week and submitted for adoption by the Commission".
Agenda
Vice Chair Dr Yongxiang Fan noted the efforts the Committee would be making to "prioritise its workload to fulfill the expectations of member countries". He also said he was "looking forward to a very productive discussion to ensure we continue to work at maxiumum efficiency."
A discussion paper on the use of food additives in the production of wine will be presented in Macau. Dr Yongxiang Fan said that "food additives used in grape wine have been discussed for several years. We hope this year some good solutions can be proposed and agreed by the Committee."
For full agenda details go to the CCFA49 webpage.
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