FDA amends additive regulations to eliminate styrene

The FDA is eliminating the use of styrene as a flavoring substance and adjuvant for use in food.

The updated regulations will no longer provide for the use of styrene, because those uses have been abandoned. The change, which became effective Oct. 9, 2018, comes in response to a food additive petition submitted by the Styrene Information and Research Center (SIRC).

In the Federal Register of June 15, 2016, the FDA announced that it had filed the SIRC petition, which proposed to amend § 172.515 Synthetic flavoring substances and adjuvants (21 CFR 172.515) to no longer provide for the use of styrene as a flavoring substance or adjuvant. The petition, based on a survey of SIRC membership, stated that the styrene industry was not manufacturing or importing styrene for use as a flavoring substance or adjuvant, nor did it intend to. SIRC also consulted with the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States to determine that the latter association’s members were also not manufacturing or importing styrene for flavoring uses.

Based on the data and information in the petition, as well as other relevant material, the FDA determined that the use of styrene for flavoring and adjuvant purposes has been abandoned.

Casey Laughman is the former Editor in Chief of Food Engineering magazine. He has almost two decades’ experience as a writer and editor for mainstream and trade publications. He spent several years as a writer and editor for two news services before becoming the editor of a legal publication and managing editor of a trade magazine that covered the commercial facilities market.

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