Food Additives (Hansard, 13 June 2003)

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his policy is on the maximum number of food additives in a product. [114395]

§ Ms Blears
I am advised by the Food Standards Agency that additives are only permitted in food if their use is technologically justified and independent experts consider them to be safe. The use of food additives is subject to strict legislative control across the European Union. Only those additives listed in the legislation may be used and then only in certain specified foods and, in a number of cases, subject to maximum permitted levels of use.
Although there is no specific limit on the number of food additives that can be used in a product, their presence must be declared in the list of ingredients.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what steps the Government are taking to inform parents about additives in children's food; [114397]
(2) what material the Government uses to inform parents of additives in children's food; how it is distributed; and what the cost was of production. [114396]

§ Ms Blears
The Food Standards Agency publishes a range of information on food additives on its website, including a list describing all currently permitted additives, details of the legislation in force and summaries of completed research and surveillance projects on additives. In addition the FSA's telephone inquiry point and websites Ask an expert section answers questions on food additives and children. Any new advice for parents on food additives is issued by the FSA as a press release. Costs of providing information on food additives are borne predominantly within the overall budget of the FSA's website production team and cannot be separately identified.

§ Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans the Government has to ensure food products contain the name and number of additives in the list of ingredients. [114398]

§ Ms Blears
European rules implemented here by the Food Labelling Regulations 1996 already require additives to be identified in the list of ingredients by their function, for example, preservative, colour, and either their specific name or serial number except where specific exemptions apply. There are no plans to require the name and the serial number to be given, although there is nothing to prevent this from being done voluntarily.