Halal E-Code

E-Numbers represent specific food additives, used by the food industry in the manufacture of various food products. These E-Numbers have been formulated by the European Economic Community (EEC) and are universally adopted by the food industry worldwide.

The E numbering system was developed in order to keep track of massive amounts of additives available in the market and became a legal requirement on packaging in the 1980s. E stands for European and thus denotes that additives tagged with an E number has passed safety tests and has been granted use in the European Union.

In order to standardize and avoid confusion, each additive is assigned its own unique number. At a later stage, the numbering system was adapted for international use by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, hence the International Numbering System (INS) was born. INS maintains the same number for each additive but without the E.

Food additives can be divided into several groups, although there is some overlap between them. Please refer Glossary below for brief detail on each category.