The national standard "Standard for the Use of Food Additives" is to be upgraded

　　Recently, the official website of the National Food Safety Standards Review Committee issued the "Letter on Soliciting Opinions on 12 National Food Safety Standards (Draft for Solicitation of Comments) such as the "Food Additive Use Standards" (hereinafter referred to as the Draft), and the publicity period is 1 month. This article analyzes the background of the revision of the draft and the content of the additions and revisions in more detail.

Revision background

　　It is illegal for a food production or business enterprise to use food additives of industrial grade rather than food grade. If you want to determine whether to use food-grade or industrial-grade food additives, you need to supervise and control the production and sales of food additives.

　　In China, the definition of food additives from the 1995 version of the "Food Sanitation Law": to improve the quality of food and color, aroma, taste, and for the needs of preservatives and processing processes and the addition of chemical synthesis or natural substances in food, to the current 2018 revised version of the Food Safety Law refers to: to improve food quality and color, aroma, taste and for the needs of preservatives, preservation and processing technology and added to the food synthetic or natural substances, including nutritional enhancers, its regulatory concept has never changed. Despite the regulatory mechanism, there are still regulatory difficulties, and the most difficult regulatory difficulties lie in the excessive use or illegal use of prohibited food additives by small and micro food production or business enterprises.

　　In 2016, the former National Health Commission included the "Standard for the Use of Food Additives" (GB2760) in the national food safety standard revision project plan (Food Letter [2016] No. 1358 of the National Health Office), led by the National Food Safety Risk Assessment Center, compared and analyzed the regulations and latest progress of the use of food additives by the Codex Alimentarius Commission and other developed countries, clarified the tasks of the revision work, determined the principles of the revision, and organized a comprehensive investigation of the content of the standard. Special studies have also been conducted on some hot issues.

classify

　　The classification basis of food additives mainly includes three kinds of source, function and safety evaluation. According to its different functions, China divides food additives into 22 categories such as acidity regulators, anti-caking agents, defoamers, antioxidants and other 22 categories in the "Food Additives Use Standard" (GB2760).

　　D.1 Acidity regulator: a substance used to maintain or change the pH of food.

　　D.2 Anti-caking agent: a substance used to prevent granular or powdered food from agglomerating and clumping, maintaining its loose or free flowing.

　　D.3 Defoamer: Substances that reduce surface tension and eliminate foam during food processing.

　　D.4 Antioxidants: Substances that can prevent or delay the oxidative decomposition and deterioration of oils and fats or food ingredients, and improve food stability.

　　D.5 Bleach: a substance that can destroy and inhibit the color factors of food, make it fade or prevent food from browning.

　　D.6 leavening agent: Added in the food processing process, the product can initiate the formation of dense porous tissue, so that the product has a bulky, soft or crisp substance.

　　D.7 Base agent substances in gum-based candy: substances that give gum-based candy foaming, plasticizing, chewing resistance and so on.

　　D.8 Colorants: Substances that make food give color and improve food color.

　　D.9 Color protection agent: can work with the colored substances in meat and meat products, so that it will not decompose and destroy in the process of food processing, preservation, etc., and present a good color of the substance.

　　D.10 Emulsifier: A substance that can improve the surface tension between the various constituent phases in the emulsion and form a uniform dispersion or emulsification.

　　D.11 Enzyme preparations: biological products with special catalytic functions that are directly extracted from the edible or non-edible parts of animals or plants, or fermented and extracted by traditional or genetically modified microorganisms (including but not limited to bacteria, actinomycetes, and fungal strains) for food processing.

　　D.12 Flavor enhancers: substances that supplement or enhance the original flavor of food.

　　D.13 Flour treatment agent: a substance that promotes the curing of flour and improves the quality of products.

　　D.14 Coating agent: a substance that is applied to the surface of food to preserve quality, preservation, glazing, and prevent water evaporation.

　　D.15 Moisture Retainer: Substances added to help maintain moisture in food.

　　D.16 Nutritional enhancers: compounds of vitamins, minerals and (or) other nutrients added to food for the purpose of nutritional fortification.

　　D.17 Preservatives: Substances that prevent food spoilage and prolong the storage period of food.

　　D.18 Stabilizers and coagulants: substances that stabilize the structure of food or make the tissue structure of food unchanged and enhance viscous solids.

　　D.19 Sweetener: A substance that gives food a sweetness.

　　D.20 thickener: can improve the viscosity of food or form a gel, thereby changing the physical properties of food, giving food viscosity, suitable taste, and both emulsifying, stabilizing or making suspension of substances.

　　D.21 Food flavors: Substances added to food products to produce, modify, or enhance fragrance.

　　D.22 Processing aids for the food industry: Various substances that contribute to the smooth progress of food processing, independent of the food itself. Such as filter aid, clarification, adsorption, mold release, decolorization, peeling, solvent extraction, etc.

　　D.23 Other: Other functions that cannot be covered in the above functional categories.

Added revisions

　　Amendments to the main text In accordance with the provisions of the Food Safety Law implemented in 2015, nutritional enhancers have been added to the definition of food additives;

　　The 2.5 "International Coding System (INS)" and 2.6 "China Coding System (CNS)" in the original standard were merged into 2.5 "Food Additive Coding" and defined as "codes used to replace the expression of complex chemical structure names, including the International Coding System (INS) for Food Additives and the Chinese Coding System (CNS)". Since the INS number is the numbering system given to food additives by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), every year the CAC will revise the INS numbering system for food additives, so there may be inconsistencies between the INS number of the food additive in GB2760 and the revised INS number of the CAC. The numbering system given to food additives shall prevail when the INS number of CAC changes". Merging 2.5 "International Coding System (INS)" and 2.6 "China Coding System (CNS)" in the original standard into 2.5 "Food Additive Coding" and revising its definition description;

　　Delete the words "if a food additive is allowed to be applied to a food class when it is allowed to be applied to a food class in the original standard 4 "Food classification system", except as otherwise provided", and it is reflected in Appendix A.3;

　　Chapter 8 "Functional Categories of Food Additives" and Chapter 9 "Index of Regulations governing the Use of Food Additives in Appendix A" have been added.

　　Amendment to Appendix A "Provisions on the Use of Food Additives" Amending the English name, INS number and CNS number of some food additives;

　　Revised the query method for the provisions on the use of food additives in Appendix A, reflecting the contents of Table A.3 in Tables A.1 and A.2, and Merging Table A.2 into Table A.1; Removed the defoamer function in Appendix A; Revise the regulations on the use of some food additives.

　　Amendment to Appendix B "Regulations on the Use of Flavors and Flavors for Food" Amending part of the principles for the use of flavors and flavors for food; Added Table B.2 "List of food spices that should be formulated into food flavors and then used for food flavoring"; Some food spices regulations, Chinese names, English names and numbers have been revised.

　　Regarding the amendment to Annex C "Regulations on the Use of Processing Aids for the Food Industry" hydrogen peroxide from Table C.1 into Table C.2 and specifying its function and scope of use; Modify the names of some processing aids and the description of the scope of use.

　　In connection with the amendment to Appendix D "Functional Categories of Food Additives", the numbering and definition of nutritional enhancers has been added; Revised the definition of spices for food.

　　Amendments to Appendix E "Food Classification System" Amend the names of food classifications in 05.01.03, 12.03, 12.03.02, 12.04.02, 12.05, 12.10.03.01, etc., and adjust the regulations on the use of food additives according to the adjusted food categories.

　　Regarding the amendment to the "Index of Regulations on the Use of Food Additives" in Appendix A of Appendix F, the INS number of food additives has been added.