Tokyo Food Safety Information Center » Tokyo Metropolitan Government food safety FAQ »Are all food additives indicated?
Are all food additives indicated?
Are all food additives indicated?
It is obligatory, in principle, to indicate all food additives used in food products. However, notification of some food additives, such as vitamins, which are used for the purpose of nutrient enrichment, is exempted.
The Food Labeling Act stipulates that, either on the raw material list for collective notification or on the additive list, the additives shall apparently be separated from the raw materials and indicated in the ascending order based on the weight ratio.
In principle, the food additives shall be indicated by their substance names but those used for the following eight purposes shall be indicated in conjunction with the “usage names” as a guide for consumers’ choice:
Sweeteners, colorings, preservatives, starch adhesives (or thickeners/stabilizers/gelatinizers), antioxidants, color formers, bleaches, and antifungal agents (or fungicides)
Example: Sweetener (xylitol), coloring (gardenia pigment)
In addition, when additives are used for the following 14 purposes, it is allowed to indicate them by their “collective names”, which explain the purposes of use, instead of the substance names:
Yeast foods, gum bases, lye waters, bittering agents, enzymes, brighteners, emulsifiers, acidifiers, chewing gum softeners, flavor enhancers, hydrogen ion concentration adjusters (pH conditioners), coagulants for tofu, leavening agents, and flavoring agents
Example: Citric acid -> Acidifier
Caffeine -> Bittering agent
The reason of this is that when a flavoring agent for food prepared by combining substances of small amounts is indicated, use of the collective name, i.e., “flavor enhancer”, is easier to understand than indication of all the combined substances.