The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently announced the release of the Substances Added to Food inventory, which is an updated version of the Everything Added to Food in the U.S. (EAFUS) inventory. The new inventory lists substances according to the name recognized by FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) and provides information on their intended technical effect(s) in food.  Where relevant, the database also provides direct links to the food ingredient listings in Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations.  The following food ingredients are included in the Substances Added to Food inventory:  food and color additives, Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) substances listed in 21 CFR Parts 182 and 184, prior-sanctioned substances, substances prohibited in food under 21 CFR Part 189, and delisted color additives.  The inventory also includes flavoring agents or adjuvants that have been evaluated by the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA) and the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), though FDA makes clear that their inclusion on the inventory is not intended to signal Agency approval or evaluation of their use in these applications.  The Substances Added to Food inventory is only a partial list of food ingredients. 

FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety (OFAS), which oversees the safety of food ingredients and food contact substances, maintains the inventory.  OFAS also keeps several other online inventories of food ingredients and packaging and food contact substances, including the Inventory of Effective Food Contact Substance Notifications (FCNs), the GRAS Notice inventory, and the list of Threshold of Regulation Exemptions.  A new feature of OFAS’ searchable online datasets is the ability to use a single search across multiple inventories.  A search of a single term will quickly provide results as to the number of “hits” that appear in a given database (FCNs, GRAS Notices, TORs, etc.).