Food additives and flavourings

Food additives are substances added intentionally to foodstuffs to perform certain technological functions, for example to colour, to sweeten or to preserve.

Food additives are defined in Community legislation as "any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological purpose … results ... in it or its by-products becoming directly or indirectly a component of such foods." (for full definition see: Article 1(2) of Directive 89/107/EEC)

Food additives are authorised at EU level for all the fifteen Member States, as well as for Norway and Iceland.

The Community legislation on food additives is based on the principle that only those additives that are explicitly authorised may be used. Most food additives may only be used in limited quantities in certain foodstuffs. If no quantitative limits are foreseen for the use of a food additive, it must be used according to good manufacturing practice, i.e. only as much as necessary to achieve the desired technological effect.

Food additives may only be authorised if:

• there is a technological need for their use,
• they do not mislead the consumer,
• they present no hazard to the health of the consumer.

Prior to their authorisation, food additives are evaluated for their safety by the Scientific Committee on Food, an expert panel that advises the European Commission in questions relating to food.

The Community legislation on food additives consists of the following Directives:

• Council Directive 89/107/EEC, as amended by Directive 94/34/EC, that provides the framework for the authorisation of food additives;
• European Parliament and Council Directive 94/36/EC that lays down detailed rules on colours;
• European Parliament and Council Directive 94/35/EC, as amended by Directive 96/83/EC, that lays down detailed rules on sweeteners;
• European Parliament and Council Directive 95/2/EC, as amended by Directives 96/85/EC, 98/72/EC and 2001/5/EC, that lays down detailed rules for authorisation of all food additives other than colours and sweeteners.

Furthermore, all authorised food additives have to fulfil purity criteria which are set out in detail in three Commission Directives:

Flavourings are substances used to give taste and/or smell to food. Community legislation defines different types of flavourings, such as natural, natural-identical or artificial flavouring substances, flavouring preparations of plant or animal origin, process flavourings which evolve flavour after heating and smoke flavourings (for full definition see Article 1(2) of Directive 88/388/EEC).

Council Directive 88/388/EEC, as completed by Commission Directive 91/71/EEC, sets out the definition of flavourings, general rules for their use, requirements for labelling and maximum levels for substances which raise concern for human health. The latter substances are naturally present in source materials for flavourings (e.g. herbs) and are therefore also present in flavouring preparations. It is prohibited to add those substances as such to food.