How do you read food additives and E numbers?

The E numbers on a label are not a ranking of danger. An E number is the identity number of a permitted food additive; the Türk Gıda Kodeksi Gıda Katkı Maddeleri Yönetmeliği (the Turkish Food Codex regulation on food additives) defines it as the code number set for each food additive and approved by the European Union. What carries information is not the presence of the code but which substance and which function it corresponds to.

Below we look at the definition of an additive, what the twenty-six function groups say, how the permitted list is built, what the amount is limited by and where all of this falls on the label.

What an additive means

The regulation's definition is narrow and technical: substances that, whether or not they have nutritional value, are not consumed as a food on their own, are not used as a characteristic ingredient of the food, and are added to the food for a technological purpose during production, processing, preparation, packaging, transport or storage.

At the center of the definition stands the technological purpose. A substance counts as an additive not because it adds flavor or nutritional value but because it does a job in production.

The regulation plainly keeps some items outside this definition. Monosaccharides and disaccharides used for their sweetening property, processing aids and substances added to food as nutrients are not considered food additives.

Twenty-six function groups

Every additive is placed into one of the classes in the regulation's first annex according to the main technological function it has. That annex counts twenty-six function groups; sweeteners, colors, preservatives, antioxidants, carriers, acids, acidity regulators, emulsifiers, stabilizers, gelling agents, thickeners and raising agents are among them.

The name of the class says what the job is. Preservatives are substances that extend shelf life by protecting against spoilage caused by microorganisms; antioxidants do the same job against oxidative spoilage such as fats going rancid and color changing.

A substance being placed in a single class does not prevent it from being used for several functions. The same substance can appear as a preservative in one product and as an acidity regulator in another.

The permitted list is closed

The system is not open; it works on the logic of a closed list. Only the additives listed in the regulation's second annex are placed on the market as they are and used in foods under the conditions in that annex; those in the third annex are used in additives, food enzymes and flavorings.

The lists are built on the basis of food categories. So a substance can be used not in every product but in the categories named. The regulation writes the same rule the other way round as well: an additive that does not comply with the provisions, or a food containing it, cannot be placed on the market.

The conditions for entering the list

For a substance to be able to enter the list, three conditions are required together. That the proposed amount of use does not create a safety risk for consumer health according to available scientific evidence, that there is a reasonable technological need that cannot be met by other economically and technologically applicable methods, and that its use does not mislead the consumer.

Colors and sweeteners also have their own conditions. A color can be on the list if it restores color affected by processing, storage, packaging and distribution, if it makes the product visually more attractive, or if it gives color to a colorless food.

What the amount is limited by

For some substances a numerical maximum amount is given in the annexes. Its absence does not mean the amount is free: the regulation defines the amount of use as the lowest amount that will provide the desired effect.

In setting the amount, the acceptable daily intake of the substance and the probable daily intake from all sources are assessed together. When no numerical maximum is set, the “quantum satis” rule applies; an amount that, according to good manufacturing practice, is no more than is necessary to achieve the intended purpose and that does not mislead the consumer.

It cannot be used in every food

Two limits are written down separately. Unless specifically stated in the second annex, additives are not used in unprocessed foods; a food that has gone through processes that do not change its natural structure, such as dividing, peeling, freezing and packaging, falls under this definition.

The second is foods intended for infants and young children. In infant formulas, follow-on formulas and baby foods, no additive other than those explicitly listed in the second annex is used.

Where it stands on the label

The ingredient list writes the ingredients in descending order of weight according to the amount used in production. This is why whether a code stands at the start or the end of the list says more than the code itself.

There may also be additives that do not appear on the list. By the carry-over principle, additives that come from one of the ingredients and no longer have a technological function in the final product do not have to appear in the ingredient list.

What counting codes does not tell you

The number of codes in a product says nothing on its own about that product's nutritional value. The place that shows the amount of energy, fat, sugar and salt is the nutrition declaration table, and additives are not written there.

The practical reading order is set: first the opening ingredients, then the nutrition declaration, and last the name of the substance next to the code. Reading the name gives more information than trying to memorize the code.

In short: an E number is an identity, not a judgment; the system works on a closed list, food categories and the principle of the lowest amount. We gave the short answer in this tip, the reading order of the label in this guide and the table itself in this guide.