Food Ingredients

USP began establishing standards of quality for food ingredients when it acquired The Food Chemicals Codex (FCC) from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 2006. Published since 1966 by IOM, the FCC contains standards for the purity and identity of food ingredients that are used by manufacturers around the world. While FCC standards are intended for industry use, they help manufacturers supply food ingredients and finished products to consumers that are of consistent and uniform quality.

As the global marketplace for food ingredients continues to expand, increasing attention is being paid to food ingredient quality and critical issues such as adulteration and contamination. USP is committed to helping the food ingredient industry combat these issues by continuing to revise and update FCC standards to meet contemporary needs. While FCC standards are not enforced in the United States like USP drug standards, they can serve as a legal requirement for manufacturing or importing a food ingredient in other countries, and they can play an important role in helping a manufacturer demonstrate self-regulation and quality assurance.

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