Food Chemicals Codex

Since its first edition in 1966, the "Food Chemicals Codex" has provided the accepted standards for quality and purity in food chemicals and is officially refernced by the US Food and Drug Administration and many agencies in other countries. The Fourth Edition updates the field, retaining 915 chemical monographs and adding 52 new ones. Each monograph provides a physical description of the substance and its use in foods, lists its purity requirements, decribes the appropriate tests to determine compliance, and provides packaging and storage guidelines. New listings in the Fourth Edition include 33 flavour chemicals. In keeping with current practice, analytical methods for flavour chemicals have been revised from mostly wet-chemical procedures to gas chromatography. Infrared spectra are provided for identification of essential oils, flavour chemicals, and a variety of other substances.
Other features include new lower limits on contaminants, new quantitative procedures to measure low lead levels, reorganization of material on general analytical and test procedures for easier access, a new section for food specialists interested in suggesting analytical methods to the "Codex" committe. The Fourth Edition reflects the many changes in science and manufacturing since the Third Edition was published. Also, where feasible, "Codex" specifications are now harmonized with those of other standard setters, in particular the FAO/WHO "Compendium of Food Additive Specifications".