Food additives play an important role in food safety. More and more safe and reliable food additives are included in the new approved list. Some approved varieties will also be cancelled or banned due to safety issues. Pay close attention to domestic and foreign foods legislation trend of additives, which is of great significance to promote the healthy development of our country's import and export food trade. Foodmate has previously introduced CAC, EU and US additive regulations. This article will briefly introduce Canadian additive regulations for your reference.

1. Legal basis
Canadian food additives are mainly regulated by C.R.C., c. 870 "Food and Drug Regulations" and the corresponding marketing authorization system (MAs). The list of 15 food additives included in the marketing license is dynamically updated. After scientific evaluation and opinion solicitation, the update notices of related content are published on the website of Health Canada, and the relevant amendments are finally consolidated into the corresponding food additive list.

2. Definition scope of additives
Canada defines food additives as: any chemical substance added during the entire production, storage and other stages of food to play a special technological role, and does not become a part of the food, and does not affect the characteristics of the food itself. Canadian food additives do not include food ingredients like salt, sugar and starch, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, flavors and fragrances, pesticides, veterinary drugs or food packaging materials. In addition, processing aids do not belong to the category of food additives.

3.Additive function
The main functions of Canadian food additives include: anticaking agent, bleaching agent, curing agent, dough improver, coloring agent, emulsifier, gelling agent, stabilizer, thickening agent, enzyme preparation, curing agent, polish, sweetness Agents, acidity regulators, preservatives, chelating agents, starch modifiers, extractants, etc.

4.List of food additives
The Canadian Food Additives Regulations are divided into 15 lists according to the functions of food additives. The lists specify the applicable food categories and use limits of food additives. The following are the titles of the 15 lists.
Table 1. List of Permitted Anticaking Agents
Table 2. List of Permitted Bleaching, Maturing or Dough Conditioning Agents (List of Permitted Bleaching, Maturing or Dough Conditioning Agents)
Table 3 List of Permitted Colouring Agents
Table 4 List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents (List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents)
Table 5 List of Permitted Food Enzymes
Table 6 List of Permitted Firming Agents (List of Permitted Firming Agents)
Table 7 List of Permitted Glazing or Polishing Agents (List of Permitted Glazing or Polishing Agents)
Table 8 List of Permitted Food Additives with Other Generally Accepted Uses
Table 9 List of Permitted Sweeteners
Table 10 List of Permitted pH Adjusting Agents, Acid-Reacting Materials and Water Correcting Agents (List of Permitted pH Adjusting Agents, Acid-Reacting Materials and Water Correcting Agents)
Table 11 List of Permitted Preservatives
Table 12 List of Permitted Sequestering Agents (List of Permitted Sequestering Agents)
Table 13 List of Permitted Starch-Modifying Agents
Table 14 List of Permitted Yeast Foods
Table 15 List of Permitted Carrier or Extraction Solvents

5.Instructions
The list of food additives in Canada includes the name, scope of application and conditions of use. There is no food classification system in the Canadian Food Additives Regulations, and the food in the table does not reflect the obvious relationship between the upper and lower levels. For food additives that are not involved in the Canadian Food and Drug Regulations and food additive marketing licenses, there is no clear statement that they must not be used, the scope of the non-declaration is the default prohibited area, which must be reported in accordance with Part B.16.002 of the Food and Drug Regulations. After the Ministry of Health submits an application, examines and approves the application and finally issues a notice.

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Please note: Original English article of Business Division of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance of Global Foodmate, please indicate the source from the Global Foodmate if reprint.

Business Division of Food Safety and Regulatory Compliance of Global Foodmate provides food standards & regulations research, labelling compliance consulting/Chinese label design, industry public opinion monitoring and analysis, registration services (of Infant formula, FSMP, Health food, Novel Food Ingredients, Novel Food Additives, New Varieties of Food-Related Products and Overseas manufacturers of imported food) and other comprehensive food safety solutions for domestic and overseas enterprises and institutions in food industry. 

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