9) A large number of food additives, including seven groups of flavouring agents containing approximately 170 substances, were evaluated at the fifty-first meeting of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). In addition, national intake assessments of five food additives were evaluated. The summary report was published in July 1998.
10) Intake assessments of benzoates, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), sulfites, and tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) were performed at the request of the Twenty-ninth Session of CCFAC. While mean intake estimates based on national food consumption data and national standards did not exceed the acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) for any of the food additives, all of them exceeded their respective ADIs when based on maximum limits in the General Standard on Food Additives (GSFA). Such intake estimates grossly overestimated actual intakes because the GSFA levels were compiled by adopting the highest level of use for any food category and the ranges of food uses specified in the GSFA were much wider than in national standards. The Committee noted that JECFA had identified food categories that contributed significantly to intake and recommended that CCFAC should review these.
11) The Committee noted that JECFA had adopted principles governing the toxicological evaluations and the development of specifications, which were included in the general consideration section of its reports, and that these principles would be used at subsequent meetings to promote consistency in its decision-making processes. For the first time, the general consideration items relating to specifications were published with the specifications[4] with a request for review and comments by government delegations to CCFAC.
