New standards proposed for Food Chemicals Codex

Standards for stevia sweeteners, caffeine and krill oil are among the latest proposed revisions for the Food Chemicals Codex (FCC).

The FCC is an internationally recognised compendium of food ingredient quality standards published by the US Pharmacopeial Convention (USP). The USP encourages manufacturers and other parties to comment on the proposals.

“Ensuring the quality of the food ingredients that make up so much of our global food supply is not only part of responsible business practice, but is critical to the health of consumers,” said V Srini Srinivasan, Executive Vice President, global science and standards at USP.

“Public standards defining the identity, quality and purity of ingredients incorporated into finished products can be an important resource for manufacturers as they source ingredients from suppliers around the world, offering some assurance that they are receiving the ingredients they expect by providing public specifications to which they can be compared.

“While important for all ingredients, it is especially crucial for high-value ingredients, including those linked to health benefits such as krill oil and so-called natural ingredients such as stevia, which manufacturers and consumers pay a premium for and are in high public demand. We invite comment on the new proposals to allow us to develop robust public standards that are valuable to all parties.”

The proposed standards are available for public review for a 90-day comment period which closes on 31 March 2013. To make comments, go to www.usp.org/fcc/fccForum.html.