Additives permitted in fresh fruit and vegetables

Fruit, vegetables, mushrooms, roots, tubers, pulses and seaweeds sold raw, whether whole, cut or surface-treated.

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 systems disagree about frozen produce, and the disagreement moves food between this group and the next: the EU and GB count frozen as unprocessed (4.1.3) and Schedule 15 gives it its own unprocessed class (4.2), while Codex counts it as processed (04.1.2.1 and 04.2.2.1), which this map places under processed fruit and vegetables. Codex is also alone in keeping fruit (04.1) and vegetables (04.2) in separate branches. Schedule 15's subdivisions are specific commodities — citrus, walnut and pecan kernels, root and tuber vegetables, avocados and bananas — not a general scheme.

What each system calls it

EU food categories

4.1 unprocessed fruit and vegetables, 4.1.1 entire fresh fruit and vegetables, 4.1.2 peeled cut and shredded fruit and vegetables, 4.1.3 frozen fruit and vegetables — 43 additives

Great Britain food categories

4.1 Unprocessed fruit and vegetables, 4.1.1 Entire fresh fruit and vegetables, 4.1.2 Peeled, cut and shredded fruit and vegetables, 4.1.3 Frozen fruit and vegetables — 43 additives

Codex food categories

04.1.1 Fresh fruit, 04.1.1.1 Untreated fresh fruit, 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit, 04.1.1.3 Peeled or cut fresh fruit, 04.2.1 Fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds, 04.2.1.1 Untreated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes (including soybeans), and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds, 04.2.1.2 Surface-treated fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds, 04.2.1.3 Peeled, cut or shredded fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds — 90 additives

Australia and New Zealand food categories

4.1 Unprocessed fruits and vegetables, 4.1.1 Untreated fruits and vegetables, 4.1.2 Surface treated fruits and vegetables, 4.1.3 Fruits and vegetables that are peeled, cut, or both peeled and cut, 4.1.2.1 Citrus fruit, 4.1.2.2 Walnut and pecan nut kernels, 4.1.3.1 Products for manufacturing purposes, 4.1.3.2 Root and tuber vegetables, 4.1.3.3 Avocados and bananas, 4.2 Frozen unprocessed fruits and vegetables — 227 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

• 16 permitted by EU and not by Codex
• 13 permitted by EU and not by ANZ
• 16 permitted by GB and not by Codex
• 13 permitted by GB and not by ANZ
• 63 permitted by Codex and not by EU
• 63 permitted by Codex and not by GB
• 27 permitted by Codex and not by ANZ
• 197 permitted by ANZ and not by EU
• 197 permitted by ANZ and not by GB
• 164 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.

• Iron oxide, black, Iron oxide, red, Iron oxide, yellow

  • EU6 mg/kg — 4.1.1 entire fresh fruit and vegetables
  • GB6 mg/kg — 4.1.1 Entire fresh fruit and vegetables
  • Codex1,000 mg/kg — 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit

• Calcium sorbate

  • Codex20 mg/kg — 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit
  • ANZ375 mg/kg — 4.1.3 Fruits and vegetables that are peeled, cut, or both peeled and cut

• Potassium sorbate, Sorbic acid

  • EU20 mg/kg — 4.1.1 entire fresh fruit and vegetables
  • GB20 mg/kg — 4.1.1 Entire fresh fruit and vegetables
  • Codex20 mg/kg — 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit
  • ANZ375 mg/kg — 4.1.3 Fruits and vegetables that are peeled, cut, or both peeled and cut

• Sucrose esters of fatty acids

  • Codex1,500 mg/kg — 04.1.1.2 Surface-treated fresh fruit
  • ANZ100 mg/kg — 4.1.2 Surface treated fruits and vegetables

• Potassium bisulfite

  • EU50 mg/kg — 4.1.3 frozen fruit and vegetables
  • ANZ300 mg/kg — 4.2 Frozen unprocessed fruits and vegetables
  • GBstates several limits in one listing; not reduced to a figure

• Potassium metabisulfite, Sodium bisulfite, Sodium metabisulfite, Sodium sulfite, Sulfur dioxide

  • EU50 mg/kg — 4.1.3 frozen fruit and vegetables
  • Codex50 mg/kg — 04.2.1.3 Peeled, cut or shredded fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds
  • ANZ300 mg/kg — 4.2 Frozen unprocessed fruits and vegetables
  • GBstates several limits in one listing; not reduced to a figure

• Potassium sulfite

  • Codex50 mg/kg — 04.2.1.3 Peeled, cut or shredded fresh vegetables, (including mushrooms and fungi, roots and tubers, pulses and legumes, and aloe vera), seaweeds and nuts and seeds
  • ANZ300 mg/kg — 4.2 Frozen unprocessed fruits and vegetables

260 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.