Reference · Labelling
Food additives and E numbers — how to declare them
Anyone making or serving food has to declare the additives used: in the list of ingredients as the category name plus the specific name or the E number, for some substances with an additional statement (“with sweetener(s)” and the like), and for food sold loose in Germany with the particulars of § 5 LMZDV. This reference gathers the rules, all 24 categories and the statements.
What are additives (and E numbers)?
Food additives are substances added to a food for technological reasons — to colour, preserve, thicken or sweeten it. Only additives on the Union list in Annex II of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 may be used, and only under the conditions set there (Article 4). Each carries an E number, such as E 300 for ascorbic acid or E 160a for carotenes.
The basic rule: category name plus specific name or E number
Annex VII Part C of the FIC Regulation requires additives “belonging to one of the categories listed in this Part” to be “designated by the name of that category, followed by their specific name or, if appropriate, E number”. So “preservative sorbic acid” or “preservative E 200” — the name or the number, not necessarily both. “If an ingredient belongs to more than one of the categories, the category appropriate to the principal function in the case of the food in question shall be indicated.”
Part C names exactly these 24 categories:
- Acid
- Acidity regulator
- Anti-caking agent
- Anti-foaming agent
- Antioxidant
- Bulking agent
- Colour
- Emulsifier
- Emulsifying salts
- Firming agent
- Flavour enhancer
- Flour treatment agent
- Foaming agent
- Gelling agent
- Glazing agent
- Humectant
- Modified starch
- Preservative
- Propellent gas
- Raising agent
- Sequestrant
- Stabiliser
- Sweetener
- Thickener
Two special cases sit in the footnotes: for modified starch the specific name or E number is not required, and emulsifying salts apply only to processed cheese and products based on it.
Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 knows 27 functional classes in its Annex I. Carriers, packaging gases and contrast enhancers are among them but do not appear in Part C of the FIC Regulation.
E numbers by group (orientation only)
E numbers are roughly grouped by function. Treat this as orientation — the groups overlap and individual substances can have several functions:
| E number | Mostly |
|---|---|
| E 100 – E 199 | Colours |
| E 200 – E 299 | Preservatives |
| E 300 – E 399 | Antioxidants and acidity regulators |
| E 400 – E 499 | Thickeners, gelling agents, emulsifiers and stabilisers |
| E 500 – E 599 | Acidity regulators, anti-caking and raising agents |
| E 600 – E 699 | Flavour enhancers |
| E 900 – E 999 | Glazing agents, sweeteners, gases |
| from E 1000 | Others (emulsifiers, modified starches and more) |
Prepacked food: additional statements
On prepacked food every additive appears in the list of ingredients. For some, Annex III of the FIC Regulation and Annex V of Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 require a fixed additional statement (reference in brackets):
| Statement | Applies to |
|---|---|
| “packaged in a protective atmosphere” | Foods whose durability has been extended by means of authorised packaging gases (Annex III no. 1.1) |
| “with sweetener(s)” | Foods containing one or more sweeteners; accompanies the name of the food (no. 2.1) |
| “with sugar(s) and sweetener(s)” | Foods with both added sugars and sweeteners; accompanies the name of the food (no. 2.2) |
| “contains aspartame (a source of phenylalanine)” | Aspartame or aspartame-acesulfame salt designated in the list of ingredients only by its E number (no. 2.3) |
| “contains a source of phenylalanine” | Aspartame or aspartame-acesulfame salt designated by its specific name (no. 2.3) |
| “excessive consumption may produce laxative effects” | Foods containing more than 10 % added polyols (no. 2.4) |
| “[name or E number]: may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children” | Sunset yellow FCF (E 110), quinoline yellow (E 104), carmoisine (E 122), allura red AC (E 129), tartrazine (E 102), ponceau 4R (E 124); with exceptions including drinks above 1.2 % alcohol by volume (Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008, Article 24 and Annex V) |
Note: sulphur dioxide and sulphites (E 220–228) at concentrations above 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre as total SO₂ are at the same time an allergen that has to be declared — the allergen rules then apply on top.
Food sold loose (Germany): § 5 LMZDV
Where food is supplied without prepackaging, Germany requires separate indications under § 5 LMZDV — in German wording, because that is what has to appear:
| Concerns | Required wording (German) |
|---|---|
| Colours | „mit Farbstoff“ |
| Preservatives | „mit Konservierungsstoff“ / „konserviert“ |
| Antioxidants | „mit Antioxidationsmittel“ |
| Flavour enhancers | „mit Geschmacksverstärker“ |
| Blackened olives | „geschwärzt“ |
| Waxed fruit and vegetables | „gewachst“ |
| Phosphates | „mit Phosphat“ |
| Sweeteners | „mit Süßungsmittel(n)“ |
| Aspartame | „enthält eine Phenylalaninquelle“ |
| Polyols | „kann bei übermäßigem Verzehr abführend wirken“ |
These do not apply where the food carries a list of ingredients naming the additive, or where the particulars are held in a written record or an electronic offering that is directly and easily accessible and is pointed to at the food or on a notice. Other Member States have their own national measures — check the rules of the country you sell in.
Additives on a menu
In food service additives are usually marked with numbers after the dish and explained in a key — allergens get letters. How the two systems work together on a menu is in allergens on the menu; the whole menu, prices included, is in how to write a menu. The number-and-letter system is an industry convention, not a prescribed code.
Common mistakes
- Category missing (“E 200” alone) or category only (“preservative”) — you need the category followed by the name or the E number. Only modified starch may stand alone.
- A category Part C does not have — “carrier” or “foam stabiliser”, for instance.
- Applying the loose-goods rules to prepacked food — with a list of ingredients those indications fall away; for packaged food the Annex III statements apply.
- Forgetting a statement — “with sweetener(s)” next to the name, or the phosphate indication at the meat counter.
- The wrong aspartame wording — where only the E number is in the list, it is “contains aspartame (a source of phenylalanine)”.
- Ignoring bought-in part-finished products — their additives count too.
- An incomplete number key — a footnote with no matching entry.
This article is general information and does not replace legal advice. What counts is the wording of the regulation as it applies at the time (Annex VII Part C and Annex III of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 and § 5 LMZDV). The English text of the Regulation is quoted from the consolidated version of 1 January 2018 on EUR-Lex.