Guidance Notes on the Classification of Food Extracts with Colouring Properties

On the 29 November 2013 the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health endorsed the “Guidance notes on the classification of food extracts with colouring properties” 1 providing a tool for classification when considering whether a substance is a colour (i.e. a food additive) or not. The document’s objective is to give guidance for classifying food extracts2 as colours or alternatively foods with colouring properties (so-called ‘Colouring Foods’). It describes the criteria that determine the difference between selective and non-selective extraction (based on the Enrichment factor) and proposes a decision tree (Annex I) and checklist (Annex II) to facilitate the classification. Furthermore, Annex IV provides a practical example of a classification and Annex III, once established, will provide reference values for the source materials.