Food Chemicals Codex — An Overview

What is the Food Chemicals Codex?

The Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) is a compendium of internationally recognized standards for purity and identity of food–grade substances. Published since 1966, FCC allows manufacturers of food, food chemicals, and food additives to comply with standards that have been created and vetted by a highly rigorous and transparent scientific process.

The United States Pharmacopeia (USP) acquired FCC from the Institute of Medicine in 2006, with the goal of providing full support for the continuing revision and update of the compendium. Revisions to the fifth edition of FCC are underway, with publication of the sixth edition scheduled for Spring 2008.


Revision and comment process

USP will introduce a regular, biennial publication schedule for FCC, with a supplement issued between each edition. This means food scientists or other interested individuals will have full and regular access to both the latest science and the revision process. It should also be noted there will be an online public notice and comment cycle for proposed revisions, whether new standards to be added to FCC or revisions to existing standards.

USP encourages all stakeholders to participate in the comment and revision process, with the aim of producing the most comprehensive FCC yet. For instructions on how to participate, visit http://www.usp.org/fcc/forum.

After a 60–day comment period, any comments received will be assessed by staff, then presented to the Food Ingredients Expert Committee of the USP Council of Experts for final consideration and balloting in accordance with the Rules and Procedures of the Council of Experts. The final documentary standards will then enter the sixth edition of the Food Chemicals Codex.

USP posted a list of priority new monographs for development on June 15, 2007 as part of the public comment period. Interested parties should submit new monographs and revision requests to Jeff Moore, Ph.D., Liaison to the Food Ingredients Expert Committee () or Catherine Sheehan, Director, Excipients and Food Chemical Codex, Division of Standards Development ().

Revision leadership

USP's formal, transparent process allows the interaction of industry, regulatory bodies, and academia, and ensures the ongoing application of credible, science–based analysis. A Food Ingredients Expert Committee was formed to lead the revision cycle. Dr. Andy Ebert has been elected by the USP Convention to chair this Expert Committee. The Food Ingredients Expert Committee will be focused on continuing to improve the analytical methods utilized in standards–setting.

In addition, USP has created a Food Ingredients Stakeholder Forum, which had its first meeting on February 23, 2007. This meeting brought together stakeholders for an update on the FCC revision process and for an opportunity to provide input on the development of the sixth edition of the publication. The next Food Ingredients Stakeholder Forum and Food Ingredients Expert Committee meetings will be held in February 2008.