Additives permitted in baby food and foods for young children

Processed cereal-based foods, jarred and pouched baby foods, and drinks sold for young children.

This comparison is a starting point, not an equivalence. The four systems here do not share a vocabulary, so the categories shown for each are this site's reading of where a food in this group falls. The systems agree on roughly this group of foods but cut it up differently. The same restriction as infant formula applies: these are closed lists, and in the EU and GB nothing is inherited into them. This group is also where the EU and GB have genuinely parted. The EU carries milk-based drinks for young children at 1.10, among the dairy categories, and has no 13.1.4; GB's copy, frozen at 28 June 2024, still has 13.1.4, 'Other foods for young children', and no 1.10. Codex's 13.2 covers complementary foods for infants and young children in a single code, and Schedule 15's 13.2 is 'Foods for infants'.

What each system calls it

EU food categories

13.1 foods for infants and young children, 13.1.3 Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods as defined by Regulation (EU) No 609/2013, 1.10 Milk-based drinks and similar products intended for young children* — 96 additives

Great Britain food categories

13.1 Foods for infants and young children, 13.1.3 Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children as defined by Commission Directive 2006/125/EC, 13.1.4 Other foods for young children — 94 additives

Codex food categories

13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children — 90 additives

Australia and New Zealand food categories

13.2 Foods for infants — 46 additives

Canada, Japan, South Korea and the United States are not here. Canada writes its permissions against foods named in prose, Japan's and South Korea's standards of use name foods in their own language rather than by a category code, and the US permits most substances for use in food generally rather than by category. Their pages carry what this site holds.

Where they differ

• 3 permitted by EU and not by GB
• 27 permitted by EU and not by Codex
• 54 permitted by EU and not by ANZ
• 1 permitted by GB and not by EU
• 27 permitted by GB and not by Codex
• 53 permitted by GB and not by ANZ
• 21 permitted by Codex and not by EU
• 23 permitted by Codex and not by GB
• 53 permitted by Codex and not by ANZ
• 4 permitted by ANZ and not by EU
• 5 permitted by ANZ and not by GB
• 9 permitted by ANZ and not by Codex

A difference is not a disagreement about safety. A regulator may permit a substance in a neighbouring category, regulate it under another instrument, or simply never have been asked. Open an additive to see what each regulator actually says.

Where the ceilings differ

Permitting a substance and permitting the same amount of it are different questions. These are the additives in this group whose most permissive figure differs by a factor of four or more between systems. The category each figure comes from is shown, because a group maps to several categories in each system and the most permissive figure often belongs to one narrow food inside it. See how much is permitted.

• Gum arabic (Acacia gum)

  • EU10,000 mg/kg — 1.10 Milk-based drinks and similar products intended for young children*
  • Codex10,000 mg/kg — 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children
  • ANZ10 mg/kg — 13.2 Foods for infants
  • GBstates several limits in one listing; not reduced to a figure

• Carrageenan

  • EU300 mg/kg — 1.10 Milk-based drinks and similar products intended for young children*
  • GB300 mg/kg — 13.1.4 Other foods for young children
  • ANZ10,000 mg/kg — 13.2 Foods for infants

• Carob bean gum, Guar gum

  • EU10,000 mg/kg — 1.10 Milk-based drinks and similar products intended for young children*
  • Codex2,000 mg/kg — 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children
  • ANZ10,000 mg/kg — 13.2 Foods for infants
  • GBstates several limits in one listing; not reduced to a figure

• Calcium hydrogen phosphate, Calcium phosphate, Dipotassium phosphate, Disodium phosphate, Monobasic calcium phosphate, Potassium dihydrogen phosphate, Sodium acid phosphate, Tripotassium phosphate, Trisodium phosphate

  • EU1,000 mg/kg — 13.1.3 Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods as defined by Regulation (EU) No 609/2013
  • GB1,000 mg/kg — 13.1.3 Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children as defined by Commission Directive 2006/125/EC
  • Codex4,400 mg/kg — 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children

• Phosphoric acid

  • EU1,000 mg/kg — 13.1.3 Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods as defined by Regulation (EU) No 609/2013
  • GB1,000 mg/kg — 13.1.3 Processed cereal-based foods and baby foods for infants and young children as defined by Commission Directive 2006/125/EC
  • Codex4,400 mg/kg — 13.2 Complementary foods for infants and young children

120 additives, side by side

● a permission this site matched to one of the categories above ○ none found there. Levels and conditions differ between them; each category page has the detail.