Additives permitted in coffee, tea and infusions

Coffee and coffee substitutes, tea, herbal and fruit infusions, and instant mixes for hot drinks.

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 draw this group the same way, give or take internal detail. The EU and GB split coffee and coffee extracts (14.1.5.1) from everything else (14.1.5.2) and list each separately; Codex and Schedule 15 have one code each. The EU's and GB's wording of 14.1.5 differs, GB's frozen text naming tea, plant, fruit and cereal preparations expressly, without on its face changing what the category covers.

What each system calls it

EU food categories

14.1.5 Coffee, coffee and chicory extracts, tea, herbal- and fruit-infusions; coffee substitutes, coffee mixes and mixes for 'hot beverages', 14.1.5.1 coffee coffee extracts, 14.1.5.2 other — 223 additives

Great Britain food categories

14.1.5 Coffee, tea, herbal and fruit infusions, chicory; tea, herbal and fruit infusions and chicory extracts; tea, plant, fruit and cereal preparations for infusions, as well as mixes and instant mixes of these products, 14.1.5.1 Coffee, coffee extracts, 14.1.5.2 Other — 226 additives

Codex food categories

14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa — 157 additives

Australia and New Zealand food categories

14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions and similar products — 214 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

• 4 permitted by EU and not by GB
• 106 permitted by EU and not by Codex
• 74 permitted by EU and not by ANZ
• 7 permitted by GB and not by EU
• 111 permitted by GB and not by Codex
• 71 permitted by GB and not by ANZ
• 40 permitted by Codex and not by EU
• 42 permitted by Codex and not by GB
• 45 permitted by Codex and not by ANZ
• 65 permitted by ANZ and not by EU
• 59 permitted by ANZ and not by GB
• 102 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.

• Enzymatically produced steviol glycosides, Steviol glycosides from fermentation

  • EU20 mg/kg — 14.1.5.2 other
  • Codex200 mg/kg — 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa
  • GBstates several limits in one listing; not reduced to a figure

• Glucosylated steviol glycosides

  • EU20 mg/kg — 14.1.5.2 other
  • Codex200 mg/kg — 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa

• Steviol glycosides from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni (Steviol glycosides from Stevia)

  • EU20 mg/kg — 14.1.5.2 other
  • Codex200 mg/kg — 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa
  • ANZ100 mg/kg — 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions and similar products
  • GBstates several limits in one listing; not reduced to a figure

• Calcium dihydrogen diphosphate, Pentapotassium triphosphate, Phosphoric acid, Trisodium diphosphate

  • EU2,000 mg/kg — 14.1.5.2 other
  • GB2,000 mg/kg — 14.1.5.2 Other
  • Codex300 mg/kg — 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa

• Calcium hydrogen phosphate, Calcium phosphate, Calcium polyphosphate, Calcium pyrophosphate, Dipotassium phosphate, Disodium phosphate, Magnesium dihydrogen diphosphate, Magnesium dihydrogen phosphate, Magnesium hydrogen phosphate, Monobasic calcium phosphate, Potassium dihydrogen phosphate, Potassium polyphosphate, Sodium acid phosphate, Sodium acid pyrophosphate, Sodium calcium polyphosphate, Sodium polyphosphate, Sodium tripolyphosphate, Tetrapotassium pyrophosphate, Tripotassium phosphate, Trisodium phosphate

  • EU2,000 mg/kg — 14.1.5.2 other
  • GB2,000 mg/kg — 14.1.5.2 Other
  • Codex300 mg/kg — 14.1.5 Coffee, coffee substitutes, tea, herbal infusions, and other hot cereal and grain beverages, excluding cocoa

310 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.