Food additives: how to check maximum doses by category (EU 1333/2008)
EU Regulation 1333/2008 doesn't authorise an additive 'in general': it authorises it in specific food categories, each with its own maximum dose and conditions. Potassium sorbate (E202) authorised in a flavoured beverage is not authorised under the same conditions in cured meat.
Checking a recipe therefore means answering three questions in order: which regulatory category does my product fall into? Which additives are authorised there? At what dose, calculated on what basis?
Step 1: classify the product in the right category
Annex II of the regulation organises foods into some twenty broad categories, finely subdivided (14.1.4 'flavoured drinks', 08.3.1 'non-heat-treated meat products'…). This is the trickiest step: the same product can plausibly sit in two sub-categories with different rules, and a wrong classification invalidates every check that follows.
Step 2: check authorisation and dose
For each additive in the recipe, the question is: is it listed in my sub-category, and at what maximum dose? Some additives are 'quantum satis' (as much as needed, no more), others carry a numeric limit in mg/kg or mg/l. Watch for side restrictions: some doses only apply to a sub-population (foods for infants) or a specific use.
Step 3: handle carry-over
An additive can enter your product through a compound ingredient — the preservative of an incorporated sauce, the colour of a filling. The carry-over principle requires these indirect contributions to count towards the total dose. This is the blind spot of manual checks: the supplier's technical sheet mentions the additive, but nobody carries it into the final recipe calculation.
Why the spreadsheet no longer cuts it
These checks cross-reference three moving datasets: your recipe portfolio, supplier technical sheets and a regularly amended regulation. Every reformulation or supplier change means redoing everything.
crumble-ai embeds the EU 1333/2008 and Codex GSFA reference data directly into formulation: every recipe is classified by category, every additive checked to the exact dose, carry-over included, on every change. A searchable regulatory database is available on the site to look up an additive and its restrictions by category.
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