Safety evaluation of certain food additives - ipcs inchem

SULFITES: ASSESSMENT OF DIETARY EXPOSURE 227
In the current GSFA, most provisions for solid foods are in the range of
15–500 mg/kg. Most provisions for liquid foods are in the range of 50–200 mg/kg.
Examples of solid foods for which there are provisions in the current Codex
GSFA are processed vegetables (up to 500 mg/kg), processed fish and seafood (up
to 150 mg/kg) and processed fruit (up to 1000 mg/kg in dried fruit). Examples of
liquid foods for which there are provisions are alcoholic drinks, including beer (up
to 50 mg/l) and wine (up to 350 mg/l), fruit and vegetable juices (up to 50 mg/l) and
water-based flavoured drinks (up to 70 mg/l).
CCFA adopted MLs that are lower than the draft MLs that were used for the
assessment of dietary exposure to sulfites performed by the Committee at its fiftyfirst
meeting. For example, for the category 04.1.2.2 “dried fruit”, the draft ML was
5000 mg/kg and the ML in the current Codex GSFA is 1000 mg/kg.
In most national legislation that regulates the use of sulfites, there are
provisions for the same solid and liquid foods as in the current GSFA. The MLs set
in some national regulations are higher than the MLs in the current GSFA for a
number of categories of foods and beverages. This is the case for dried fruit (2000
mg/kg in the EU and Republic of Korea and 3000 mg/kg in Australia and New
Zealand versus 1000 mg/kg in the current GSFA), dried vegetables (3000 mg/kg in
Australia and New Zealand versus 500 mg/kg in the current GSFA) and lemon juice
(350 mg/l in the EU versus 50 mg/l in the current GSFA).
The Committee noted that there are no provisions for the use of sulfites for
any meat product either in the current GSFA or in Codex commodity standards. On
the other hand, there are provisions for processed meats in some national legislation
made available to the Committee. Sulfites are known to destroy thiamine. For this
reason, the use of sulfites in foods that are considered an important source of
thiamine, such as meat products, is not permitted in some countries (e.g. Brazil) or
is permitted only for limited applications (e.g. in the EU, sulfites can be used only in
breakfast sausages and burger meats with vegetables and/or cereals, at a ML of
450 mg/kg, but cannot be used in burger meat in general). In Australia and New
Zealand, sulfites can be used at up to 500 mg/kg in broader categories: in burger
meat in general and in all sausages containing raw meat.
3.2 Data made available to the Committee
Data were made available to the Committee for the present evaluation
through submissions by Australia, Brazil, Germany and the United States of
America (USA). The Comité Européen des Fabricants de Sucre sent general
comments on the sugar-related provisions in the current GSFA, but without any
specific information in relation to dietary exposure. The data presented in these
submissions were complemented with data from the literature referring to France,
Italy, Lebanon and the United Kingdom. Only data published since the last
evaluation of sulfites by the Committee in 2000 were considered in the present
evaluation. Therefore, the data presented in the submission by the USA, which
predated 2000, were not considered.