Hygienic aspects of the use of food additives (lecture)

The significant expansion of international trade in food additives (FA) made it necessary to solve the problem of the expediency of using FA in the production, packaging, storage, transportation and sale of food products (FP). In Ukraine, the use of FA is regulated by the «Sanitary Rules for the Use of Food Additives », which fully meet international requirements. To improve the international trade of FP containing FA, the Council of the EU developed and tested a rational system of digital codification of FA with the letter «E» and a three- or fourdigit number (code) assigned to a specific FA. It is included in Codex Alimentarius, EC Directives, FAO/WHO as an international digital codification system. The FA code confirms that this compound has been tested for safety, established purity criteria and hygienic standards for FP. In accordance with the Law of Ukraine «On the Safety and Quality of Food Products», the sale and use of domestic and imported food products without labeling in the national language about the composition of the food product with a list of the names of FA that were used in the process of its manufacture is prohibited. The majority of FA do not affect the body of consumers, are inert in used quantities, but some of them are capable of causing an adverse effect on the human body when ingested in significant quantities, therefore their hygienic regulation is extremely necessary.