The evaluation of food additives at the international level was initiated as a result of a Joint FAO/WHO Conference on Food Additives held in Geneva in 1955. The Conference recommended to the Directors-General of FAO and WHO that one or more expert committees should be convened to address the technical and administrative aspects of chemical additives and their safety in food.

This recommendation provided the basis for the first meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Committee on Food Additives in Rome, December 1956. As of today the Committee has met a total of 59 times.

FACT SHEET: What is JECFA?