New FCC standards proposed for ingredients

New quality standards for spirulina, Brilliant black PN and pomegranate juice are being proposed for the US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) 9th edition. The new FCC Identity Standards provide tests to confirm authenticity and rule out adulteration.

The USP is encouraging manufacturers to comment on these proposals, which are posted on the most recent FCC Forum. The proposed standards are available for public review and a 90-day comment period, which ends on 30 September.

“The new FCC Identity Standards take food safety one step further, not only describing a food ingredient, but testing for components that could help manufacturers and formulators make sure their ingredients are not adulterated,” said V Srini Srinivasan, USP’s Executive Vice President for Global Science and Standards, and Chief Science Officer.

Highlights of the FCC Forum include:

• Pomegranate juice: the FCC Identity Standards gives users a description of the ingredient as well as a series of identification tests and acceptance criteria. Geographical and seasonal variations were taken into consideration in development of the standard, and test for substances that should not be present in pomegranate juice, such as sorbitol and tartaric acid.
• Spirulina: the new USP monograph has a specific test to ensure the absence of microcystins - toxins produced by certain types of cyanobacteria that may lead to severe liver damage. The presence of microcystins indicates that the ingredient has either been adulterated with lower-cost, microcystins-producing types of cyanobacterium, or that cultivation has not been carried out according to good manufacturing practices (GMP).
• Brilliant black PN: the FDA has not approved this colour for use in food in the United States but it has been approved in other countries. One challenge of testing synthetic colourants is the measurement of impurities and the availability of reference materials for those impurities. USP is developing new reference standards for the impurities proposed in the monograph for Brilliant black PN to support this need, allowing more accurate testing and ultimately helping to provide a better safety profile for this ingredient.

More information about the FCC Forum is available from www.usp.org/fcc/fccForum.html.