For centuries, ingredients have served useful functions in a variety of foods. Our ancestors used salt to preserve meats and fish, added herbs and spices to improve the flavor of foods, preserved fruit with sugar, and pickled cucumbers in a vinegar solution. Today, consumers demand and enjoy a food supply that is flavorful, nutritious, safe, convenient, colorful and affordable. Food additives and advances in technology help make that possible.
Syringe injecting food additives into an apple
Food safety and standards Authority of India(FSSAI) has issued the operationalization of standards of Food Additives for use in various Food Categories.
In addition to the provisions contained in regulation 3.1 of Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011, the following standards of food additives are also made operational with immediate effect:
FOOD ADDITIVES
(1) Food additives included in these Regulations
The food additives listed herein are recognised as suitable for use in foods in conformance with the provisions of these Regulations and have been assigned an Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) or determined, on the basis of other criteria, to be safe. The use of additives in conformance with these Regulations is considered to be technologically justified.
(2) Food in which additives may be used
These Regulations sets forth the conditions under which food additives may be used in all foods, whether or not they have previously been permitted by the Food Safety and Standards (Food Standards and Food Additives) Regulations, 2011.
(3) Foods in which additives may not be used
Food categories or individual food items in which the use of food additives is not acceptable, or where use should be restricted, are defined by these regulations.
(4) Food additive means any substance not normally consumed as food by itself and not normally used as a typical ingredient of the food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological (including organoleptic) purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of such food results, or may be reasonably expected to result (directly or indirectly), in it or its by-products becoming a component of or otherwise affecting the characteristics of such foods. The term does not include contaminants or substances added to food for maintaining or improving nutritional qualities.
(5) Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) means the amount of a food expressed on a body weight basis that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without appreciable health risk. An additive meeting this criterion must be used within the bounds of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) as defined in section3.1.1 (8).
(6) Maximum Use Level of an additive is the highest concentration of the additive determined to be functionally effective in a food or food category and agreed to be safe. It is generally expressed as mg additive/kg of food. The maximum use level will not usually correspond to the optimum, recommended, or typical level of use. Under GMP, the optimum, recommended, or typical use level will differ for each application of an additive and is dependent on the intended technical effect and the specific food in which the additive would be used, taking into account the type of raw material, food processing and post-manufacture storage, transport and handling by distributors, retailers, and consumers.
(7) Justification for the use of food additives
The use of food additives is justified only when such use has an advantage, does not present an appreciable health risk to consumers, does not mislead the consumer, and serves one or more of the technological functions as specified in these regulations and the needs set out from (a) to (d) below, and only where these objectives cannot be achieved by other means that are economically and technologically practicable:
- To preserve the nutritional quality of the food; an intentional reduction in the nutritional quality of a food would be justified in the circumstances dealt with in sub-paragraph (b) and also in other circumstances where the food does not constitute a significant item in a normal diet;
- To provide necessary ingredients or constituents for foods manufactured for groups of consumers having special dietary needs;
- To enhance the keeping quality or stability of a food or to improve its organoleptic properties, provided that this does not change the nature, substance or quality of the food so as to deceive the consumer;
- To aid in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, transport or storage of food, provided that the additive is not used to disguise the effects of the use of faulty raw materials or of undesirable (including unhygienic) practices or techniques during the course of any of these activities.
(8) Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP)
All food additives subject to the provisions of these regulations shall be used under conditions of Good Manufacturing Practice, which include the following:
- The quantity of the additive added to food shall be limited to the lowest possible level necessary to accomplish its desired effect;
- The quantity of the additive that becomes a component of food as a result of its use in the manufacturing, processing or packaging of a food and which is not intended to accomplish any physical, or other technical effect in the food itself, is reduced to the extent reasonably possible; and,
- The additive is of appropriate food grade quality and is prepared and handled in the same way as a food ingredient.
(9) Specifications for the Identity and Purity of Food Additives
Food additives used in accordance with this Standard shall be of appropriate food grade quality and should at all times conform with the applicable Specifications of Identity and Purity recommended by these regulations. In terms of safety, food grade quality is achieved by conformance of additives to their specifications as a whole (not merely with individual criteria) and through their production, storage, transport, and handling in accordance with GMP.
(10) Carry-Over of Food Additives into Foods
(a) Conditions applying to carry-over of food additives from ingredients and raw materials into foods
Other than by direct addition, an additive may be present in food as a result of carry-over from a raw material or ingredient used to produce the food, provided that:
- The additive is acceptable for use in the raw materials or other ingredients (including food additives) in accordance with these regulations;
- The amount of the additive in the raw materials or other ingredients (including food additives) does not exceed the maximum use level specified in these regulations;
- The food into which the additive is carried over does not contain the additive in a quantity greater than would be introduced by the use of raw materials, or ingredients under proper technological conditions or manufacturing practice, consistent with the provisions of these regulations.
- Special conditions applying to the use of food additives not directly authorised in food ingredients and raw materials
An additive may be used in or added to a raw material or other ingredient if the raw material or ingredient is used exclusively in the preparation of food that is in conformity with the provisions of these regulations, including that any maximum level applying to the food is not exceeded.
(c) Foods for which the carry-over of food additives is unacceptable
Carry-over of a food additive from a raw material or ingredient is unacceptable for foods belonging to the following food categories; unless a food additive provision in the specified category is mentioned in these regulations
- Infant formulae, follow-up formulae, and formulae for special medical purposes for infants.
- Complementary foods for infants and young children.â€
