A Joint FAO/WHO Conference on Food Additives met in Geneva, Switzerland, in September 1955 and recommended that the two international organizations collect and disseminate information on food additives. Since that time, over 1000 substances have been evaluated and specifications provided for purity and identity by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).
JECFA specifications of food additives are intended to serve as a guide for manufacturers and users of the additives, as well as the basis for new or revised national legislation or regulations of member countries of FAO and WHO. The specifications were published variously in FAO Nutrition Meetings Reports Series (NMRS), the WHO Technical Report Series (TRS) or as FAO Food and Nutrition Papers (FNP), over many years and most of them now out of print.
The first edition of this Compendium was published in 1992. It consolidated all of the JECFA food additive specifications which were then applicable in one reference source. Since then separate Addenda to the Compendium have been published for each JECFA meeting. This present revised Compendium has been prepared in order to incorporate into one source all currently applicable JECFA food additive specifications, up to and including the 55th meeting in 2000. In preparing this publication the original Compendium and the Addenda 1 through 5 have been edited for uniform presentation, while maintaining the content of the original specifications. These edited presentation have been adopted since 1998 in Addendum 6.
At the 44th meeting in 1995 JECFA decided that food additives used as flavouring agents would be evaluated separately in a consistent and timely manner. Accordingly since 1996 at the 46th meeting the specifications of such flavouring agents have been presented in a simplified Table format separately from other food additives. Food additives, that are flavouring agents and have other functional uses, have two sets of specifications to be consulted, one in the food additive section when the substance is used, for example, as a carrier solvent, and another specification when the substance is used as a flavouring agent.
The compendium also contains Acknowledgement and Special note.
The specifications of food additives (uses other than as flavouring agents) can be searched by name, the International Numbering System (INS) number, and the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) number. The specifications also can be retrieved using other factors such as functional use and designation of the specification (e.g. Tentative specifications only).
The specification for flavouring agents can be searched by name, JECFA number, Flavour and Extract Manufacturer's Association of the USA (FEMA) number, Council of Europe (COE) number and the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) number. The specifications that are designated as tentative can be retrieved indicating the information required for full specifications.
There are many general tests for identity and purity that are applicable to a wide range of food additives. In 1978, these were assembled along with other general reference material and were published as FNP 5, "Guide to Specifications - JECFA". FNP 5 was revised in 1983 and 1991 as a manual containing general analytical techniques. In the present revised Compendium, more substance-specific identity / purity tests, that are applicable to a group of food additives that have certain functional uses, were moved from the individual specifications to Annex 3 in principle. The test procedures and other information from FNP 5 are referenced in the specifications throughout the Compendium with italic-phrases other than making specific reference to FNP 5.
Users of this Compendium are encouraged to submit their comments or suggestions to the Chief, Food Quality and Standards Service, Food and Nutrition Division, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.