Thumbnail Image

Magnesium Stearate - 80th Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) Meeting - Chemical and Technical Assessment (CTA), 2015

Year of publication 2015

Pages 6p.

Publisher FAO ;

Product type Meeting

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This Chemical and Technical Assessment summarizes data and information on Magnesium stearate submitted to JECFA by the sponsor in December 2014. Magnesium stearate is used as anticaking agent, lubricant and release agent, emulsifier, binder, thickener and antifoaming agent. Typical applications in food industry include food supplement tablets, capsules and powders, compressed and granulated mints and candy, chewing gum, herbs and spices and, bakery ingredients. The use levels in these categories range from 0.05-3% w/w. Magnesium stearate is an off-white to white, fine, light powder that is greasy to the touch and practically insoluble in water and in anhydrous ethanol. The commercial form of food additive magnesium stearate is mainly composed of variable proportions of magnesium stearate and magnesium palmitate and minor proportions of other magnesium salts of fatty acids, obtained from edible fats and oils of animal or vegetable origin. Magnesium salts of fatty acids had been previous ly included in the INS number 470 (Salts of fatty acids). An Acceptable Daily Intake for its use in food has not been allocated by the 29th meeting of JECFA since there was no food uses reported to JECFA at that time. Their deletion from the Codex International Numbering System had been proposed at the 42nd Session of the CCFA in 2010. The International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplement Associations (IADSA) offered technological justification for not deleting this additive and the CCFA assigne d therefore the INS number 470(iii) at the 43rd Session in 2011.

Meeting Session Number Sess. 80

Language English

Also available in:
No results found.

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Thumbnail Image
    Meeting
    Calcium Silicate - 80th Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) Meeting - Chemical and Technical Assessment (CTA), 2015 2015
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    Calcium silicate (INS 552) is a hydrous or anhydrous silicate with varying proportions of calcium as calcium oxide, and silicon as silicon dioxide. It is prepared by various reactions between siliceous material (e.g. diatomaceous earth) and natural calcium compounds (e.g. lime with varying proportions of other elements, such as magnesium, etc.). It is used as an anticaking agent and a filter aid. Specifications for calcium silicate were prepared at the 17th JECFA (1973) and an ADI “not specified ” for silicon dioxide and certain silicates including calcium silicate was established at the 29th JECFA (1985). Metals and arsenic specifications were revised at the 57th JECFA (2001). At the 76th JECFA (2012), the Committee, while reviewing the specifications for food additives containing aluminium and/or silicon, considered it relevant to update the test methods for the determination of aluminium oxide and silicon dioxide. The Committee also noted that the specifications of some additives, in cluding calcium silicate, were rather old and that additional information would be required to revise the specifications.
  • Thumbnail Image
  • Thumbnail Image
    Meeting
    Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)-Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) Graft Co-Polymer - 80th Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) Meeting - Chemical and Technical Assessment (CTA), 2015 2015
    Also available in:
    No results found.
    This Chemical and Technical Assessment summarizes data and information on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-polyethylene glycol (PEG) graft co-polymer (PVA-PEG graft co-polymer) as provided by the sponsor BASF in response to the call for data to the 80th Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee Meeting on Food Additives (JECFA). PVA-PEG graft co-polymer is a synthetic branched co-polymer consisting of a main backbone of PEG and two to three side chains of PVA. The co-polymer is manufactured by grafting polyvinyl ac etate chains onto the PEG backbone which are then hydrolysed to form the PVA side chains. The final co-polymer consists of approximately 75% PVA units and 25% PEG units on a weight basis. PVA-PEG graft co-polymer is primarily intended for use as a film coating on food supplement products. Specifically, the sponsor is requesting that the co-polymer be considered for use as a glazing agent, binder for tablets and stabilizer in food supplements at a level not to exceed 10% in the food supplement. T he sponsor indicates that the final co-polymer formulation may contain 0.3 to 0.5% colloidal silica to improve the flow of the co-polymer in powder form.
Show more

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

No results found.