Safety evaluation of certain food additives - ipcs inchem

226 SULFITES: ASSESSMENT OF DIETARY EXPOSURE
system and participate in an appropriate proficiency testing programme or
interlaboratory comparison to authenticate the accuracy and reliability of data
produced.
3. DIETARY EXPOSURE
3.1 Current status of sulfites in Codex and national legislation
Owing to their multiple functions, sulfites are permitted for use in a wide
variety of solid and liquid foods. A summary of the MLs of sulfites made available
to the Committee is presented in Table 1.
Table 1. MLs of sulfites in Codex GSFA, European Union (EU) legislation and
national legislation
Range of MLs within which most
provisions are included (mg/kg or mg/l)
Highest MLs for specific food
categories (mg/kg or mg/l)
Codex GSFAa Solid 15–500 1000 in dried fruit (food category
04.1.2.2)
Liquid 50–200 350 in grape wines (food category
14.2.3) and aromatized alcoholic
beverages (food category 14.2.7)
EUb Solid 20–800 2000 in dried fruit
Liquid 20–200 350 in lemon juice
Australia and
New Zealandc Solid 10–1000 2000 in candied fruit and
vegetables; 3000 in dried fruits
and vegetables, other fruit- and
vegetable-based products
Liquid 25–400
Brazild Solid 20–200 1500 in raisin
Liquid 40–350 3000 in concentrated (high pulp)
cashew apple juice
Republic of
Korea e
Solid 20–900 2000 in dried fruit; 5000 in dried
shredded pumpkin
Liquid 150–350
a Current Codex GSFA (Codex Alimentarius Commission, 2007b).
b European Commission (1995).
c Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code, Standard 1.3.1—Food Additives (Food
Standards Australia New Zealand, 2008).
d Brazil National Law on Food Additives (Government of Brazil, 1988a, 1988b, 2002).
e Korea National Food Standards (Korea Food and Drug Administration, 2004).