The International Numbering System for Food Additives (INS) is a

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an-based naming system for

food additive Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance taste, appearance, or other sensory qualities. Some additives have been used for centuries as part of an effort to preserve food, for example vinegar (pickling), salt (salt ...

s, aimed at providing a short designation of what may be a lengthy actual name."Class Names and the International Numbering System for Food Additives"
CAC/GL 36-1989
Adopted in 1989, Revision 2008. Last amendment 2011. Published by Codex Alimentarius It is defined by

Codex Alimentarius The Codex Alimentarius () is a collection of internationally recognized standards, codes of practice, guidelines, and other recommendations published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations relating to food, food production ...

, the international food standards organisation of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

(WHO) and

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

(FAO) of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

(UN). The information is published in the document ''Class Names and the International Numbering System for Food Additives'', first published in 1989, with revisions in 2008 and 2011. The INS is an open list, "subject to the inclusion of additional additives or removal of existing ones on an ongoing basis".

Numbering system

INS numbers consist of three or four digits, optionally followed by an alphabetical suffix to further characterize individual additives. On packaging in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

(EU), approved food additives are written with a prefix of ''E''. An additive that appears in the INS does not automatically have a corresponding

E number E numbers ("E" stands for "Europe") are codes for substances used as food additives, including those found naturally in many foods such as vitamin C, for use within the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Commonly ...

. INS numbers are assigned by the committee to identify each food additive. INS numbers generally correspond to E numbers for the same compound, e.g. INS 102,

Tartrazine Tartrazine is a synthetic lemon yellow azo dye primarily used as a food coloring. It is also known as E number E102, C.I. 19140, FD&C Yellow 5, Yellow 5 Lake, Acid Yellow 23, Food Yellow 4, and trisodium 1-(4-sulfonatophenyl)-4-(4-sulfonatop ...

, is also E102. INS numbers are not unique and, in fact, one number may be assigned to a group of similar compounds.

List of INS numbers

*Except where stated, the list of INS numbers and associated food additives is based on the most recent publication of the Codex Alimentarius, ''Class Names and the International Numbering System for Food Additives'', first published in 1989, with revisions in 2008 and 2011. *E number and American approval flags are derived from other sources. *In the table below, food additives approved for the EU are listed with an 'E',Current EU approved additives and their E Numbers
/ref> and those approved for Australia and New Zealand with an 'A'. and for the US with a U, even though the US does not use the INS numbering system.

References

{{reflist

Numbering system

List of INS numbers

See also

References

Further reading