Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University of Reading, UK
(Note: This page is copyright - © D.J.Jukes 2009 - but please see Copyright notice)
Last updated: 7 September, 2009

Food Additives in the European Union

(compiled by Dr David Jukes)

To go to main Foodlaw-Reading index page, click here.
 

On this page:
  • EU Law - Description of the legislation controlling additives in the EU with links to EU documents
  • Development of New EU Controls - Information relating to the new proposals published by the Commission in July 2006
  • UK Law - Links to the UK legislation implementing the EU law
  • E Number List - Complete listing of E-numbers used on labels

 

EU Law

Additional information can be found on the European Commission's page relating to food additives at http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/food/chemicalsafety/additives/index_en.htm

  • July 2006: Commission proposes new legislation on food additives, flavourings and enzymes
  • November 2008: Adoption of Additive Regulations by the Council of Ministers
  • December 2008: Publication of Regulations in the OJ

See section on Development of New EU Controls below

As part of the moves to create the Internal Market, the Community agreed that the control of food additives should be harmonised throughout the Community. Earlier attempts had only be partially successful and for the purposes of the Internal Market, full agreement was needed. The developments have been complex but can be summarised in the following diagram:

Framework Directive

In late 1988 (but published in 1989), the Community adopted a framework directive which set out the criteria by which additives would be assessed and provided for the adoption of more specific technical directives establishing the list of additives which could be used, the foods in which they could be used and any maximum levels. The Directive is:

This Directive requires that all permitted food additives are assessed by the European Scientific Committee for Food (SCF) for their safety against the criteria which are stated in the Annex to the Directive.

The framework Directive has been amended twice by:

A consolidated version of Directive 89/107 can be found on the EU web site at: Framework Directive 89/107 [20 November 2003]

The 1994 amendment (to the framework directive) provided that countries can nominate certain foods which have traditional characteristics and which, in the territory of the Member State, have not been permitted to contain certain additives. If it is subsequently agreed, the Member States concerned can continue to restrict the use of additives in these foods within their territory. This has resulted in the adoption of a Decision providing approved national derogations:

The official text of Decision 292/97/EC can be found on the EU web site at: Decision 292/97/EC. It is however mising the important Annex. However, an unofficial scanned version is available on the web site of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland at: 292/97/EC.

Specific Directives

The specific Directives were eventually adopted. 3 Directives now provide the requirements for additive legislation within the whole of the European Community. They are:

All 3 of these directives have been amended to change administrative arrangements relating to the committe structure (not shown on the above diagram). For details, see:

In addition, there are amending directives which have amended 2 of the 3 specific Directives. These are:

The text of the Directives are available on the EU web site at:

See also:

Purity Criteria

Specific purity criteria have also been adopted for the additives. These are given in additional Directives. These were initially published in 1995 and 1996:

Two of these have now been republished as updated (codified) documents:

The following amendments have also been adopted for the one relating to colours:

The consolidated version of the colours Directive (as amended) can be found on the EU web site at:

Adding Additives to the List

Risk management responsibility for food additives lies with the Directorate General for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO). The Directorate Geneneral has published a short descriptive document giving 'Administrative Guidance for the request of authorisation of a food additive'. This can be found at: Administrative Guidance. Scientific risk assessment is now the responsibility of the European Food Safety Authority and, in particular, their Panel on food additives, flavourings, processing aids and materials in contact with food.

Development of New EU Controls

In July 2006, the Commission published a set of four proposed Regulations which would replace the current system and provide a common basis for controls on food additives, food flavourings and food enzymes. They were adopted by the Council of Ministers in November 2008 and published in the Official Journal on 31 December 2008.

Documents

The proposals were published as Commission Documents as follows:

Amended proposals were published by the Commission in October 2007:

Following the adoption of Common Positions by the Council of Ministers (10th March 2008), on the 11th March 2008 the Commission published 3 communications:

Following the European Parliament's 2nd Reading (8th July 2008), on 16th October 2008 the Commission published 4 opinions:

The adopted regulations were published in the Official Journal on 31 December 2008. They enter into force on various dates from 20 January 2009 until 20 January 2011:

News Items

The following are links to news items available on this site relating to the progress of these proposals through the EU legislative process:

UK Law

For the United Kingdom (excluding Northern Ireland), the Directives have been implemented into UK legislation by the following Regulations which came into effect on the 1st January 1996

Separate, but identical, legislation applies to Northern Ireland:

E Number List

The list below gives the reference number (the "E number") and the English name of all those additives listed in the 3 specific directives. It should be noted that some additives are restricted to a very limited number of foods whereas others may be permitted at the level necessary to achieve the desired technical effect ("quantum satis") with no numerical limit stated. The Directives or the implementing legislation in the Member States should be consulted for actual details.

The UK Food Standards Agency publishes a listing of E numbers split into major additive categories (colours, preservatives, etc). This can be found on the interet at: http://www.food.gov.uk/safereating/chemsafe/additivesbranch/enumberlist

The numbering system is being adapted for international use by the Codex Alimentarius Commission who are developing an International Numbering System (INS). This largely uses the same numbers (but without the E). Discussions are held by the Codex Committee on Food Additives and Contaminants. A recent list of INS numbers is not available.

This page was first provided on 29 July 1996