Additives permitted in processed and cured meat

Bacon, ham, sausages, salami, canned and dried meats, and the casings and coatings used on them.

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 EU's and GB's 8.3.4 and its three subcategories exist to carry nitrite and nitrate limits for traditionally cured products, and have no counterpart in Codex or Schedule 15. Codex's main cut is whole pieces (08.2) against comminuted (08.3), each then by heat treatment; Schedule 15 cuts by preservation instead — canned cured, cured, dried, slow dried. Sausage casings are included here (Codex 08.4, EU and GB 8.3.3, Schedule 15 8.4).

What each system calls it

EU food categories

8.3 Meat products, 8.3.1 Non-heat-treated processed meat, 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products, 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat, 8.3.4 Traditional and traditionally cured meat products with specific provisions concerning nitrites and nitrates, 8.3.4.1 Traditional immersion cured products (meat products cured by immersion in a curing solution containing nitrites and/or nitrates, salt and other components), 8.3.4.2 Traditional dry-cured products (dry curing process involves dry application of curing mixture containing nitrites and/or nitrates, salt and other components to the surface of the meat followed by a period of stabilisation/maturation), 8.3.4.3 Other traditional and traditionally cured products (including immersion and dry cured processes used in combination or where nitrite and/or nitrate is included in a compound product or where the curing solution is injected into the product prior to cooking) — 271 additives

Great Britain food categories

8.3 Meat products, 8.3.1 Non-heat-treated meat products, 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products, 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat, 8.3.4 Traditionally cured meat products with specific provisions concerning nitrites and nitrates, 8.3.4.1 Traditional immersion cured products (Meat products cured by immersion in a curing solution containing nitrites and/or nitrates, salt and other components), 8.3.4.2 Traditional dry cured products. (Dry curing process involves dry application of curing mixture containing nitrites and/or nitrates, salt and other components to the surface of the meat followed by a period of stabilisation/maturation), 8.3.4.3 Other traditionally cured products. (Immersion and dry cured processes used in combination or where nitrite and/or nitrate is included in a compound product or where the curing solution is injected into the product prior to cooking) — 270 additives

Codex food categories

08.2 Processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts, 08.2.1 Non-heat treated processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts, 08.2.2 Heat-treated processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts, 08.2.3 Frozen processed meat, poultry and game products in whole pieces or cuts, 08.2.1.1 Cured (including salted) non-heat treated processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts, 08.2.1.2 Cured (including salted) and dried non-heat treated processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts, 08.2.1.3 Fermented non-heat treated processed meat, poultry, and game products in whole pieces or cuts, 08.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products, 08.3.1 Non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products, 08.3.2 Heat-treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products, 08.3.3 Frozen processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products, 08.3.1.1 Cured (including salted) non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products, 08.3.1.2 Cured (including salted) and dried non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products, 08.3.1.3 Fermented non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products, 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings) — 102 additives

Australia and New Zealand food categories

8.2 Processed meat, poultry and game products in whole cuts or pieces, 8.2.1 Commercially sterile canned cured meat, 8.2.2 Cured meat, 8.2.3 Dried meat, 8.2.4 Slow dried cured meat, 8.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products, other than products listed in item 8.3.2, 8.3.1 Fermented, uncooked processed comminuted meat products, 8.3.2 Sausage and sausage meat containing raw, unprocessed meat, 8.4 Edible casings — 275 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

• 2 permitted by EU and not by GB
• 200 permitted by EU and not by Codex
• 81 permitted by EU and not by ANZ
• 1 permitted by GB and not by EU
• 199 permitted by GB and not by Codex
• 79 permitted by GB and not by ANZ
• 31 permitted by Codex and not by EU
• 31 permitted by Codex and not by GB
• 44 permitted by Codex and not by ANZ
• 85 permitted by ANZ and not by EU
• 84 permitted by ANZ and not by GB
• 217 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.

• Paprika extract

  • EU10 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • GB10 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • Codex20,000 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)

• Annatto extracts, bixin-based

  • EU50 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • GB50 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • Codex10,000 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)

• beta-Carotenes, Blakeslea trispora, β-Carotene-rich extract from Dunaliella Salina

  • EU20 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • GB20 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • Codex1,500 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)

• beta-Carotenes, vegetable

  • EU20 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • GB20 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • Codex1,500 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)

• FD&C Yellow No. 6

  • EU35 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • GB35 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • Codex1,500 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)

• Ethyl para-hydroxybenzoate, Methylparaben

  • EU1,000 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • GB1,000 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • Codex36 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)

• Carmines

  • EU500 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • Codex11,500 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)
  • GBstates several limits in one listing; not reduced to a figure

• Natamycin (pimaricin)

  • EU1 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • GB1 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • Codex20 mg/kg — 08.3.1.2 Cured (including salted) and dried non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products

• Polyoxyethylene (20) sorbitan monolaurate

  • Codex5,000 mg/kg — 08.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products
  • ANZ500 mg/kg — 8.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products, other than products listed in item 8.3.2

• Potassium sorbate, Sorbic acid

  • EU1,000 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • GB1,000 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • Codex10,000 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)
  • ANZ1,500 mg/kg — 8.3.1 Fermented, uncooked processed comminuted meat products

• Ponceau 4R (Cochineal red A)

  • EU55 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • GB55 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • Codex500 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)

• Curcumin

  • EU500 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • Codex4,000 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)
  • GBstates several limits in one listing; not reduced to a figure

• Calcium disodium EDTA

  • EU250 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • GB250 mg/kg — 8.3.2 Heat-treated meat products
  • Codex35 mg/kg — 08.3.2 Heat-treated processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products

• Calcium sorbate

  • Codex10,000 mg/kg — 08.4 Edible casings (e.g. sausage casings)
  • ANZ1,500 mg/kg — 8.3.1 Fermented, uncooked processed comminuted meat products

• Disodium phosphate, Sodium acid phosphate, Trisodium phosphate

  • EU12,600 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • GB12,600 mg/kg — 8.3.3 Casings and coatings and decorations for meat
  • Codex2,200 mg/kg — 08.3 Processed comminuted meat, poultry, and game products

375 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.