Hi Jihedward
Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 lays down rules on food additives used in foods to ensure the effective operation of the internal market and to ensure a high level of protection of human health. The Regulation provides for community lists of approved food additives set out in a number of annexes. In Ireland these will only apply from 1st June 2013 in the meantime the Annexes to the previous rules apply. The Regulation also provides for conditions of use of food additives in foods and rules on the labelling of food additives. Only food additives included in the European Community list may be placed on the market.
On reading Regulation (EC) No 1333/2008 the answer to your question is not immediately clear. This is not uncommon when it comes to regulations and their interpretation. However the best place to start is with the definition of a food additive.
‘food additive’ shall mean any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or storage of such food results, or may be reasonably expected to result, in it or its by-products becoming directly or indirectly a component of such foods;
In your case I’m assuming you have a whole fruit with a natural barrier (peel) which is removed prior to consuming the edible portion of the fruit. You intentionally apply an edible coating to the external skin containing chemicals contained in the additive list. These are applied to obtain a technological function e.g. preservation.
You supply an unprocessed food product and do not intentionally add a substance for a technological purpose in manufacturing, processing or preparation. You are however adding a substance to the outer non edible portion for the technical purposes of preservation of the product and it may be argued that this falls under the ‘treatment, packaging, transport or storage’ section of the definition. But this portion is removed prior to consumption and it maybe said does not affect the food.
The key question I feel is whether the use of the coating may be reasonably expected to result in it becoming directly or indirectly a component of the food. This leads to a whole host of other technical questions about the effective barrier created by the peel, levels present and issues such as the placing on the market of product with damaged skin that has been subsequently coated and in direct contact with the food. The fact that the coating you use is edible is in itself an indication that its use must be considered in the assessmentof risk. Intended use is also a consideration. For example orange peel may be used as an ingredient in a variety of other products by the consumer.
In my opinion it is unlikely to be considered a processing aid but perhaps a coating under the definitions. However, be careful. The ultimate aim of all legislation and food safety in general is the protection of human health and even if your use and application of this coating is exempt you still need to consider the actual and potential risks asdiscussed briefly above.
The legislation can be complex but there are two key aspects. Firstly, are the chemicals used in your coating permitted for use and for your application? I would certainly ensure they are permitted chemicals regardless of their legal definition. Second is in regard to labelling. I don’t have enough information from your post to address this.
In short, I don’t believe you will find a clear answer to your question in the legislation and therefore you will need to interpret the regulation based on your own knowledge.
