Regulation of Natural Food Additives

The use of natural ingredients in food formulation has been facing an increasing demand worldwide. Aiming to preserve the consumer’s health and provide better guidance to the food industry, regulatory agencies must propose precise definitions and establish safe limits of use for additives of natural origin. In this book chapter, we discuss the lack of specific regulations for natural additives and list the substances currently approved by two important regulatory agencies in the globe: the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from the United States. Other regulatory documents from Asia, Australia, and South America are briefly mentioned. Clearly, there is a need for an international regulatory consensus to minimize ambiguity around the term ʼnatural’ with a better understanding of what the term “natural” meant and how it can be applied to food labelling and international trade.