Additives by function

What an additive is for, as regulators themselves put it. Each function page lists the additives a regulator assigns that function to, in that regulator’s own words, with the citation.

Where the functions come from

  • Codex assigns the functional classes of its Class Names and International Numbering System (CXG 36), printed for each additive in the General Standard for Food Additives.
  • United States listings name a technical effect defined in 21 CFR 170.3(o) (“used as a flavor enhancer as defined in § 170.3(o)(11)”), and colour additives are listed in their own parts of 21 CFR. Many other listings describe their use in prose without that reference, and this site does not infer a function from prose. Where the regulation is silent, the FDA’s own Substances Added to Food inventory often is not: it records a technical effect, in the same 21 CFR 170.3(o) words, for most of the substances it lists. Those are read too, and cited to the inventory rather than to the regulation, because that is where FDA said it.
  • Canada gives a purpose of use for every permitted use on its Lists of Permitted Food Additives.
  • European Union Annex II Part B lists colours and sweeteners separately from every other additive; it assigns no finer function, so the EU appears only on those two pages.

The regulators do not use the same words. This site groups equivalent terms under one heading — a US “Non-nutritive sweetener” and a Codex “Sweetener” both appear under Sweeteners — and every page shows the term each regulator actually used. Great Britain and Australia and New Zealand assign no function per additive in the sources this site reads.

A function is not a permission. An additive can be listed as a preservative by one regulator and not be permitted at all by another; its page shows where it is permitted.