Guides & Tips

Know more about Food additives

7 October 2012
Food additives play an important part in our food supply ensuring our food is safe and meets the needs of consumers.

Many additives have long complex names, some of which are abbreviated. The food additives’ names can be confusing so, to help reduce this confusion, each food additive is given a short code number. Regulations in Dubai require the names of additives or their E Numbers to be mentioned on the label.

Many people like to know what these food additive codes stand for and some people may choose to avoid certain food additives. The lists below give you a way to check food labels as you shop, detailing what the food additive is and what it does.

Most additives are only permitted to be used in certain foods and are subject to specific quantitative limits, so it is important to note this list should be used in conjunction with the appropriate EU Directives which can be viewed via the link Codex General Standard for Food Additives (GSFA) Online Database