IADSA Keeps The Focus On Additives At Codex

Additives used in food supplements will remain a key IADSA priority at Codex Alimentarius level in 2012 to ensure that manufacturers do not face unnecessary barriers to trade, the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA) has said.

Setting out its priority areas for the year IADSA highlighted that on the additives front several still await discussion for their inclusion in the Codex General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA).

These include Sorbates (INS 200-203), Sucroglycerides (INS 474), Aspartame-Acesulfame Salt (INS 962) and Sucrose Oligoesters (INS 473a), all of which are widely used in the food supplement sector and will come up for discussion at the next meeting of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA) from 12-16 March 2012.

“It is our priority to ensure that adopted levels are both safe for consumers and consistent with those widely used by the global food supplement industry,” said David Pineda Ereño, IADSA’s Regulatory Affairs Director. “As regards these additives, we have provided scientific and technical research directly to the CCFA on their use and the maximum levels for their use, and are pleased to be able to provide information that contributes to Codex’s work. Not approving the inclusion of key additives in the General Standard for Food Additives list, or adopting very low levels, could create completely unnecessary technical problems for manufacturers.”

Codex has 180 member countries which refer to the Codex GSFA when formulating their national regulations on permissible food additives or in the absence of a specific regulation, implement these Standards as national regulations.

Last year IADSA was instrumental in preventing the deletion of Steviol Glycosides from the Standard, putting forward scientific and technological justification for its use in food supplements to propose levels that were then agreed and adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC).

The additive is now officially part of the Codex General Standard for Food Additives, with a level and use applicable to chewable food supplements.