Food additives: more than 300 substances, and a new opinion on E 962

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) keeps a public list of food additives. More than 300 substances are authorised for use in food across the European Union. EFSA assessed most of them itself; the rest had been assessed earlier by the Scientific Committee on Food at the European Commission. Every additive carries an E number. Vitamin C is E 300, pectin E 440, lycopene E 160d(ii), lecithin E 322. Carmine (E 120) comes from scale insects, calcium carbonate (E 170) from ground limestone, and synthetic lycopene is listed as E 160d(i).

Three legal acts set the framework. Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 lays down the general requirements for the safe use of additives and holds the EU list of permitted substances, with the conditions attached to each one. Regulation (EU) No 231/2012 sets the specifications. Regulation (EC) No 1331/2008 introduces a common approval procedure, and Regulation (EU) No 257/2010 obliges EFSA to re-evaluate every additive authorised before 20 January 2009. The Panel on Food Additives and Flavourings (FAF) has sat within EFSA since July 2018.

What changed in 2026

The newest additives to enter the EU list after an EFSA assessment are E 960b (steviol glycosides from fermentation), E 345(i) (trimagnesium citrate) and E 267 (buffered vinegar). Older substances are being re-evaluated too. Recent rounds covered E 174 (silver) and the esters of organic acids with mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids: E 472a, E 472b, E 472d, E 472e, E 472f and E 472c.

Two dates in 2026 matter for everyday cooking. On 10 September EFSA published its opinion on the re-evaluation of aspartame-acesulfame salt (E 962). The substance is safe at current consumer exposure levels, the Authority said. On 17 September came an opinion on rebaudioside M. Three days earlier the Authority released a scientific opinion from its review of a flavourings group (Flavouring Group Evaluation 216).

The EU and the United States

The European Commission stresses in its own material that an additive can enter food only if it has been approved and entered on the positive list. It also has to serve a specific function: preserving, colouring, sweetening, protecting against oxidation or improving baking quality. In February 2026 the Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety published a fact sheet on the matter.

The United States keeps its own register. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) runs the inventory "Substances Added to Food", formerly known as EAFUS, and sends anyone asking about the status of an additive there. The page carries an update date of 2 July 2024. The European and American lists are therefore two separate systems: the same compound can be permitted in one region and not permitted in the other.

What consumers make of it

Germany's heise.de points to the other side of the regulation: public opinion. Summarising food threads on its site, the outlet notes that reservations about modern food technologies remain widespread. They cover taste, health, animal welfare and sustainability, and the differences run along generational lines. The list of permitted additives is a technical document, but how the public receives it follows a logic of its own.