USP seeks comments on new FCC standards

US Pharmacopeia (USP) has said it is seeking industry comments on new quality standards for several functional food, food coloring and infant formula ingredients, for the latest Food Chemicals Codex.

The FCC is a compendium of ingredient monographs and tests to ensure the quality, purity and safety of more than 1,100 food ingredients. USP is the non-governmental, non-profit authority responsible for setting those standards and publishing the FCC compendium.

The latest version will add a specification for sodium molybdate, a source of molybdenum, which is used in formula for older infants and young children as a supplementary food when special dietary needs exist. USP said these are the first known global specifications for this ingredient for use in food.

It will also add a specification for DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) from algal oil, USP said, and a standard for neohesperidin dihydrochalcone (NHDC) – a plant-based sweetener and flavor enhancer said to mask bitter citrus compounds.

Vice president of food and dietary supplement standards for USPJames Griffith said: “What the industry will see in this latest FCC Forum is a dedicated effort to continue to develop standards for categories of ingredients that have broad impact.”

The FCC compendium also includes standards for ingredients that are able to be legally added to food in other parts of the world, even if they are not allowed in foods in the United States.

Among those ingredients, the latest version will add three synthetic red color additives, amaranth, azorubine and ponceau 4R. They are approved for use in many international markets, but are not among the seven synthetic food dyes approved for use in the United States.

The comment period is open for food manufacturers and all other interested parties via USP’s free-access online forum until September 30, 2011.

The FCC Forum can be found here: www.usp.org/fcc/fccForum.html.