As a food industry practitioner, when looking for research on food additives, spices and other substances, I will encounter codes such as E-number, INS, CNS, CAS No., etc. Global Foodmate hereby summarizes the meanings of these codes, so that everyone can understand the corresponding encoding rules.
 

1. E-number

European Union inventory number (E-number), the earliest numbering system used in the field of food additives. Food additives with E-number are approved for use in the European Union.

E-number usually consists of 3 to 4 digits, starting with E, and existing numbers are from E 100 to E 1521. Due to the limited numbering capacity, the same substance is sometimes expressed in the form of "E XXXa ~", such as E 150 a (caramel color - common method), E 150 b (caramel color - caustic sulfite method).
 

2. INS

International numbering system for (INS), adopted by the Codex Standard for CAC Additives (CODEX STAN 192-1995).

The INS code is mostly identical to the EU E code. The INS code usually consists of 3 or 4 digits, such as 100 for curcumin, and in some cases the letter suffix after the number (distinguishes the additives produced by different processes). There is a unique INS code for each individual additive. Additives with INS code are not necessarily approved food additives.

3. CNS

Chinese number system (CNS), which is based on a 5-digit representation of food additives using the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission CAC/Vol XV (1983) document. The food coding system consists of the main functional category code of the food additive and the sequence number in this functional category, such as CNS No. 20.009, "20" is the number of "thickener", and 009 is xanthan gum in the thickener. The sequence number. It should be noted that some food additives have multiple purpose of uses, and many food additives may have multiple numbers if this numbering principle is followed.
 

4. CAS No.

Chemical Abstract Service No. (CAS No.) is the most commonly used number for searching information about chemical substances. This number overcomes various misunderstandings caused by inconsistent names and backs up a large amount of technical information of chemical abstracts. The use of countries has become very popular.

5. FEMA

Flavor and Extract Manufactures' Association of the United States (FEMA). Each fragrance material corresponds to a FEMA code. FEMA coding is currently available internationally. Most of the list of spices allowed in China is FEMA-coded, but a small percentage of spices are not FEMA-coded.

Please note: Original article of Global Foodmate of Information Service and Business Department, please indicate the source from the Global Foodmate if reprint.