Members of IADSA (International Alliance of Dietary Food Supplement Associations) have been gathering technical information on nine additives over the past two years in order to present evidence to the Codex Alimentarius commission and get levels standardized appropriately for industry.
The alliance succeeded in either preventing the deletion of, or raising the allowed levels for, nine of the additives - thereby inching closer to its overall aim of securing industry's global trade interests at the regulatory level.
"The influence of Codex is huge - when governments are making regulations, they base them on Codex," David Pineda, director of regulatory affairs, told NutraIngredients-USA.
"There are two aims of Codex: the health of the consumer, and to facilitate trade."
Codex, set up by the Food and Agricultural Organisation and the World Health Organisation in 1961, establishes guidelines to level the playing field of food trade.
While the standards are not binding, they tend to influence less liberal markets and those without a regulatory framework in place, which has been particularly common in supplements.
IADSA attended the 39th session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives, held in Beijing in April, in order to protect an additional 22 additives found in food supplements scheduled for a Codex decision.
For now, IADSA achieved developments with the following additives: castor oil, polysorbates, polyvinyl alcohol, acesulfame potassium, aspartame, cyclamates, neotame, saccharin and sucralose.
Castor oil was on the verge of deletion once again, said Pineda, while IADSA was requesting that the other additives be standardized to one level and not numerous.
"Rather than having three different types, we suggested having one," said Pineda.
Codex previously proposed having three different quantities for three different types of supplements: solid, liquid, as well as syrup or chewable form.
But now the same level of additives will apply across all supplement forms.
In 2006, IADSA prevented the removal of four additives from dietary supplements - iron oxides, castor oil, chlorophylls/copper complexes and erythrosine.
In addition, it succeeded in raising the levels of BHA, BHT and carnauba wax.
According to Pineda, the additives selected for discussions have not been chosen in any particular order of importance.
Next on the drawing board for discussions will be colors for food supplements.
"The industry in the past had failed to provide information on additives," said Pineda.
Now industry has begun giving Codex the necessary evidence to show certain levels of additives are not harmful.
The next step is for the additives to be put forward to the Codex commission for adoption in July.
IADSA's proposed levels for the additives are: castor oil (1,000 mg/kg), polysorbates (25,000 mg/kg), polyvinyl alcohol (45,000 mg/kg), acesulfame potassium (2,000 mg/kg), aspartame (5,500 mg/kg), cyclamates (1,250 mg/kg), neotame (90 mg/kg), saccharin (1,200 mg/kg), and sucralose (2,400 mg/kg).
The alliance represents 57 national trade associations across six continents, promotes free trade for dietary supplements and a regulatory framework to protect this.