4 New Food Additives Open for Public Feedback in China

China has opened the proposed authorization of glucuronolactone as a food additive in energy drinks to public feedback. Its approval will open China's markets to many energy drink products which use the active ingredient.

On April 9th, 2019, China CFSA consulted on the use of four new food additives. They are glucuronolactone, disodium EDTA, caramel color class I-plain and ε-poly-L-lysine٠HCl.

Food Additives	Items for consultation	Function	Food classification number	Food Category	Maximum amount
Glucuronolactone	new food additive	anticaking agent, nutrition fortification substance	14.09	energy drink	2.4g/L
Disodium ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetate (disodium EDTA)	new application scope	chelating agent	CNS No.18.005	Aquatic derived food	1.2g/kg
Caramel color class I-plain	new application scope	colorant	16.03	collagen protein casing	as appropriate
ε-poly-L-lysine٠HCl (ε-PL٠HCl)	new application scope	preservative	06.03.02.01	raw or wet flour product (e.g. noodles and wrappers for dumpling, wantun and shao-mai)	0.5 g/kg
			06.05	starch and starch products	0.5 g/kg
			06.07	instant rice & flour products	0.5 g/kg
			07.0	bakery food	0.5 g/kg
			10.02.01	spiced eggs	0.5 g/kg

Applications in the food industry

Glucuronolactone can be added into food or energy drinks to enhance physical strength, nourish the skin and improve their immune system, etc. It is now used as an additive in health food products, energy drinks, cosmetics, etc. in countries like the US, Japan, etc.

According to a report ^[1] by Adroit Market Research, the global glucuronolactone market size was valued at USD 268.7 million in 2017. Food & beverages accounted for over 55% of the global glucuronolactone market share in 2017.

Disodium EDTA is a chelating agent that can be used to lower the content of cadmium in aquatic products
Caramel color class I-plain is used to color collagen protein casing.
ε-poly-L-lysine٠HCl (ε-PL٠HCl) is used as a preservative in food products.

Any interested parties can submit their comments or suggestions on the four new food additives via the contact information below before May 9th, 2019.

Email: zqyj@cfsa.net.cn
*Please type “食品添加剂新品种意见反馈” in the subject line, which translates to “feedback of new food additives”.