Chapter 24: Food and Color Additives

Updated: 9/21/00

Potential Food Safety Hazard
Control Measures
FDA Guidelines
Analytical Procedures

Sulfiting agents

Commercial Test Products
References

Potential Food Safety Hazard

Certain food and color additives can cause an allergic-type reaction in consumers. Examples of such food and color additives that are used on fish and fishery products include sulfiting agents and FD&C Yellow #5. Sulfiting agents are mostly used during on-board handling of shrimp and lobster to prevent the formation of "black spot." FD&C Yellow #5 is used during in-plant processing. These food and color additives are permitted for use in foods, with certain restrictions, but their presence must be declared on the label. This label declaration is particularly important to sensitive individuals. Example of allergens include:

CLASS I Allergens:

Peanuts (this includes ingredients such as peanut butter, peanut flour, hydrolyzed peanut protein, etc., but does not include peanut oil which is not considered an allergen).
Tree Nuts (this includes the following tree nuts: pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts or filberts, cashews and brazil nuts).
Eggs (this includes both egg white and egg yolk and ingredients such as egg albumen, and powdered eggs).
Shellfish (this includes crustaceans such as shrimp, crab, crayfish and lobster, and mollusks such as oyster, clams, scallops, and mussels).

CLASS II Allergens:

Tree Nuts (this includes the following tree nuts: almonds and pistachios)
Dairy (this includes any ingredient which contains protein from cow milk such as milk, cream, dry milk and whey)
Soy (this includes ingredients such as corn flour and corn meal, but does not include corn starch or corn oil which are not considered to be allergens).
Corn (this includes ingredients such as corn flour and corn meal, but does not include corn starch or corn oil which are not considered to be allergens).

Additional Class II Allergens:

Sesame seeds
Fish
Oats
Wheat

Other food and color additives are prohibited from use in food because of a determination by FDA that they present a potential risk to the public health. Examples of such food additives include cyclamate and its derivatives, safrole, and FD&C Red #4 (FDA, 1998).

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Control Measures

Control measures for allergic-type reactions that can result from the presence of certain food and color additives (e.g., sulfiting agents and FD&C Yellow #5) could include:

Declaring the presence of food and color additives that can cause an allergic-type reaction on finished product labeling;
Testing incoming shrimp or lobster for residues of sulfiting agents; and
Receiving a supplier's certification of the lack of sulfiting agent use on incoming lots of shrimp or lobster (with appropriate verification).

A control measure for the presence of prohibited food and color additives could include:

Testing incoming lots of fish for the presence of prohibited food and color additives which there is reason to believe may be present; and
Receiving a supplier's certification that prohibited food and color additives were not used on the incoming lot of fish (with appropriate verification)(FDA, 1998).

NOTE: When supplier's guarantees are used for monitoring, collect at least one representative sample per quarter, randomly selected from among your suppliers, and analyze for sulfiting agents or prohibited food and color additives, as appropriate. Additionally, collect at least one representative sample for each new supplier, and analyze for sulfiting agents or prohibited food and color additives, as appropriate (FDA, 1998).

A 20 minute video in English or Spanish on allergens is available from Medallion Laboratories. The video, "Everyday Heroes: Reducing the Allergen Risk in Food Processing (1999), details what an allergen is, what happens in an allergic reaction, and the most common ways the unintentional allergen reaches the food product. It is directed toward plant personnel. The facilitator's information includes transparencies and speakers notes. The video is available from: Medallion Laboratories, 9000 Plymouth Avenue North, Minneapolis, MN 55427. Phone: (800) 245-5615 or (763) 764-4453. Fax: (763) 764-4010. Web: www.medlabs.com/.

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FDA Guidelines

Table 24-1. FDA guidelines for food and color additives in fish and fishery products.

Food Additive

Guideline

Reference

Cyclamate and its derivatives, safrole, FD&C Red #4, and other prohibited food and color additives

Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must not contain a detectable level of prohibited food and color additives; or

Incoming lots fish and fishery products must be accompanied by a supplier's lot-by-lot certificate that prohibited food and color additives were not used.

FDA, 1998

Sulfiting agents

All finished product labels must contain a sulfiting agent declaration; or

Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must not contain a detectable level of sulfite; or

Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must be accompanied by a supplier's lot-by-lot certificate that sulfiting agents were not used; or
Finished product labels for product processed from sulfite-containing raw materials must contain a sulfiting agent declaration.
FDA, 1998

FD&C Yellow #5

All finished product labels must contain a FD&C Yellow #5 declaration; or

Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must not contain a detectable level of FD&C Yellow #5; or

Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must be accompanied by a supplier's certificate that FD&C Yellow #5 was not used; or

Finished product labels for product processed from FD&C Yellow #5-containing raw materials must contain a FD&C Yellow #5 declaration.

FDA, 1998

Astaxanthin

All finished product labels for salmonid fish fed astaxanthin to enhance the pink to orange-red color of the flesh must contain an astaxanthin declaration.

21 CFR 73.35

Canthaxanthin

All finished product labels for salmonid fish fed canthaxanthin to enhance the pink to orange-red color of the flesh must contain a canthaxanthin declaration.

21 CFR 73.75

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Analytical Procedures

Contents

Sulfiting agents

Sulfites in foods, Optimized Monier-Williams method (AOAC, 1995a).
EM Quant Sulfitest Strips (Center Laboratories, Port Washington, New York; Nordlee et al., 1988).
Ion chromatography (Cooper et al., 1985; Cooper et al., 1986).
Alkali titration method (Yamagata and Low, 1992a).
Colorimetric method (Yamagata and Low, 1992b).
Determination of sulphites and borates in imported frozen prawns, frozen shrimps and salted jellyfish (Ogawa et al., 1978).
Comparison of sulfite methods (DeWitt and Finne, 1985).

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Commercial Test Products

Table 24-2. Commercial test products for sulfites.

Test	Analytical Technique	Approx. Total Test Time	Supplier
Alert for Sulfites [used to identify sulfite residues]	chemical reaction	5 min	Neogen Corporation 620 Lesher Pl. Lansing, MI 48912 Phone: 800/234-5333; 517/372-9200 E-mail: neogen-info@neogen.com Web: www.neogen.com/alertsulfite.htm

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References

21 CFR 73.35. 1999. Astaxanthin. Title 21, part 73, subpart A, sec. 35, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

21 CFR 73.75. 1999. Canthaxanthin. Title 21, part 73, subpart A, sec. 75, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

AOAC. 1995a. Sulfites in foods, optimized Monier-Williams method. Vol. 2, Ch. 47, Official Method 990.28, Section 47.3.43. In Official Methods of Analysis of AOAC, 16th ed.. P. Cunniff (Ed.), p. 29-31. AOAC International, Gaithersburg, MD.

Cooper, P.L., Marshall, M.R., Gregory, J.F., and Otwell, W.S. 1985. Preliminary study on the use of ion chromatography to measure residual sulfite levels in shrimp. In Proceedings of the Tropical and Subtropical Fisheries Technical Conference, p. 141-147. Florida Sea Grant Program, University of Florida, Gainsville, FL.

Cooper, P.L., Marshall, M.R., Gregory, J.F., and Otwell, W.S. 1986. Ion chromatography for determining residual sulfite on shrimp. J. Food Sci. 51(4):924-927.

DeWitt, B.J. and Finne, G. 1985. A comparison of methods for determining sulfur dioxide in shrimp. In Proceedings of the Tropical and Subtropical Fisheries Technical Conference, p. 135-140. Florida Sea Grant Program, University of Florida, Gainsville FL.

FDA. 1998. Food & Color Additives. Ch. 19. In Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guide, 2^nd ed., p. 213-230. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Seafood, Washington, DC.

Nordlee, J.A., Naidu, S.G., and Taylor, S.L. 1988. False positive and false negative reactions encountered in the use of sulfite test strips for the detection of sulfite-treated foods. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 81:537-541.

Ogawa, S., Toyoda, M., Ito, Y., and Iwaida, M. 1978. Determination of sulphites and borates in imported frozen prawns, frozen shrimps and salted jelly fish. Bull. National Institute of Hygienic Sciences 96:130-132.

Yamagata, M. and Low, L.K. 1992a. Determination of sulphur dioxide by Rankine method (Alkali titration method). In Laboratory Manual on Analytical Methods and Procedures for Fish and Fish Products, Katsutoshi Miwa and Su Ji Lim (Eds.), D-9.1 to D-9.5. Marine Fisheries Research Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center.

Yamagata, M. and Low, L.K. 1992b. Determination of sulphur dioxide by Rankine method (Colorimetric method). In Laboratory Manual on Analytical Methods and Procedures for Fish and Fish Products, Katutoshi Miwa and Su Ji Lim (Eds.), D-10.1 to D-10.6. Marine Fisheries Research Department, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center.

Food Additive	Guideline	Reference
Cyclamate and its derivatives, safrole, FD&C Red #4, and other prohibited food and color additives	Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must not contain a detectable level of prohibited food and color additives; or Incoming lots fish and fishery products must be accompanied by a supplier's lot-by-lot certificate that prohibited food and color additives were not used.	FDA, 1998
Sulfiting agents	All finished product labels must contain a sulfiting agent declaration; or Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must not contain a detectable level of sulfite; or Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must be accompanied by a supplier's lot-by-lot certificate that sulfiting agents were not used; or Finished product labels for product processed from sulfite-containing raw materials must contain a sulfiting agent declaration.	FDA, 1998
FD&C Yellow #5	All finished product labels must contain a FD&C Yellow #5 declaration; or Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must not contain a detectable level of FD&C Yellow #5; or Incoming lots of fish and fishery products must be accompanied by a supplier's certificate that FD&C Yellow #5 was not used; or Finished product labels for product processed from FD&C Yellow #5-containing raw materials must contain a FD&C Yellow #5 declaration.	FDA, 1998
Astaxanthin	All finished product labels for salmonid fish fed astaxanthin to enhance the pink to orange-red color of the flesh must contain an astaxanthin declaration.	21 CFR 73.35
Canthaxanthin	All finished product labels for salmonid fish fed canthaxanthin to enhance the pink to orange-red color of the flesh must contain a canthaxanthin declaration.	21 CFR 73.75