Food categories

Additive permissions are granted food by food, and regulators group foods into numbered categories to do it. Pick a category to see which additives are permitted in it, at what level, and under which instrument.

The systems below are kept separate on purpose. Each regulator numbers its categories its own way, divides foods differently, and — most importantly — reads the hierarchy differently: under Codex and in Australia and New Zealand a permission for a broad category extends to its subcategories, while the EU and Great Britain list each food's permissions where they apply. Great Britain's categories are numbered like the EU's but were frozen at 28 June 2024, so they are shown on their own. The United States and Canada do not organise their additive regulations by coded food category, so they have no tree here; each additive's page shows their status.