70) The Committee recalled that the last session had agreed to request information on functional classes assigned to individual additives and proposals for amendments to the INS, and considered the comments provided in reply to CL 1998/11-FAC.
71) The Delegation of Thailand expressed its objection to the attribution of an INS number to Konjac Flour, which was not classified as an additive in their country. The Committee however recalled that the last session had agreed to forward the Number for Konjac Flour to the Commission for adoption at Step 8, as it met the criteria established for inclusion of a compound in the INS.
72) The Delegation of Australia, referring to its written comments, proposed to attribute Number 586 to 4-Hexylresorcinol, an inhibitor of polyphenol oxidase used to prevent the development of melanosis in prawns as an alternative to sulphites. The Delegation proposed to classify it as a colour retention agent and noted that other functions in the current classification might also be used. The Delegation of Finland recalled that the specification for that additive, which had been forwarded for adoption by the Commission, referred to its function as antioxidant and colour retention agent (see Appendix VII).
73) In view of the non-controversial nature of this amendment, the Committee agreed to circulate INS Number 586 for 4-Hexylresorcinol as an antioxidant and colour retention agent at Step 3 of the Accelerated Procedure, subject to the approval of the Commission. The Committee also agreed to add "emulsifier" to the function of 440 Pectins, as proposed by IPPA in their written comments (see Appendix VIII).
74) The Committee recalled that INS Numbers 938 (Argon), 939 (Helium) and 948 (Oxygen) had been circulated at Step 3 of the Accelerated Procedure. As there was consensus on these proposals, the Committee agreed to advance them to Step 5 of the Accelerated Procedure for adoption by the Commission. The Proposed Draft Amendments to the INS are attached to this report as Appendix VIII.
75) The Observer from IPPA pointed out that sequestrants were identified as a sub-group of antioxidants, although they had other functions, such as controlling the availability of calcium to anionic gelling agents and the Committee agreed that "sequestrants" should be recognized as a separate functional class for clarification purposes. The Committee therefore recommended that the Committee on Food Labelling should consider the amendment of the General Standard for the Labelling of Prepackaged Foods, to include sequestrants in the list of additive classes (Section 4.2 List of Ingredients).
76) The Committee recalled its earlier discussions on the functions of additives, especially the need for clarification in the definition of functional classes, and recognized that the limited number of classes could create some confusion. Although it was not possible to come to a conclusion at this stage, the Committee agreed that further consideration should be given to the general questions of functional classes and subclasses in the framework of the development of the GSFA.
