Notice of Modification to the List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents  
 to Enable the Use of Carob B ean Gum and Xanthan Gum in Mincemeat  
Insert Title of Document  Here – Times New Roman – 12 pt  – White Text  
   
Bureau of Chemical Safety, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch    1 
  
Notice of Modification to the List of Permitted 
Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents  
to Enable the Use of  Carob Bean Gum and Xanthan 
Gum in Mincemeat  
 
Notice of Modification – Lists of Permitted Food Additives  
Reference Number: [NOM/ADM -0104 ] 
September  26, 2017 Notice of Modification to the List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents  
 to Enable the Use of Carob B ean Gum and Xanthan Gum in Mincemeat  
Insert Title of Document  Here – Times New Roman – 12 pt  – White Text  
   
Bureau of Chemical Safety, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch    2 Summary  
 
Food additives are regulated in Canada under Marketing Authorizations  (MAs) issued by the 
Minister of Health and the Food and Drug Regulations  (Regulations) .  Approved food additives 
and their permitted conditions of use are set out in the Lists of Pe rmitted Food Additives  that are 
incorporated by reference in the MAs and published on the Canada.ca website .  A petitioner can 
request that Health Canada approve a new additive or a new condition of use for an already 
approved food additive by filing a foo d additive submission with the Department's Food 
Directorate.  Health Canada uses this premarket approval process to determine whether the 
scientific data support the safety of food additives when used under specified conditions in foods 
sold in Canada.  
 
Health Canada received a food additive submission seeking approval for the use of carob bean 
gum (locust bean gum) and xanthan gum  as thickening agents in mincemeat. The com positional 
standard for mincemea t that is set out in section B.11.250 allows for the use of t hickening agents. 
However, carob bean gum and xanthan gum are not among the food additives currently 
permitted for use as thickening agents in mincemeat. Therefore, the petitioner requested a level 
of use consistent with  Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) . 
 
Carob bean gum and xanthan gum are already permitted for use in Canada in unstandardized 
foods and some standardized foods1 at a level of use consistent with GMP.  In other standardized 
foods , their m aximum level of use is prescribed as a percentage by weight of the food (ranging 
from 0.5 to 0.75% for carob bean gum and 0.02 to 0.5% for xanthan gum).    
 
The results of Health Canada’s evaluation of available scientific data support the safety  and 
efficacy of  carob bean gum  and xanthan gum  for use as thickening agents in mincemeat  as 
requested by the petitioner.  Therefore, Health Canada has modified the  List of Permitted 
Emulsifying,  Gellin g, Stabilizing, or Thickening Agents  to extend the use of these two additives  
to mincemeat by adding this food  to sub -item 1 in Column 2 for Items C.14 and X.1 of this List , 
as shown in the table below . 
 
Modification to the List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing, or Thickening Agents   
 
Item 
No. Column 1  
Additive  Column 2  
Permitted in or Upon Column 3  
Maximum Level of Use and 
Other Conditions  
C.14 Carob bean 
gum (1)  
Cream; French dressing; 
Mincemeat ; Mustard pickles; 
(naming the flavour) Milk; 
(naming the flavour) Partly (1)  
Good Manufacturing Practice   
                                              
1 Items No. C.14  (carob bean gum) , L.3 (locust bean gum)  and X.1  (xanthan gum)  in the List of Permitted 
Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents . Notice of Modification to the List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents  
 to Enable the Use of Carob B ean Gum and Xanthan Gum in Mincemeat  
Insert Title of Document  Here – Times New Roman – 12 pt  – White Text  
   
Bureau of Chemical Safety, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch    3 Item 
No. Column 1  
Additive  Column 2  
Permitted in or Upon Column 3  
Maximum Level of Use and 
Other Conditions  
skimmed milk; (naming the 
flavour) Partly skimmed milk 
with added milk solids; (naming 
the flavour) Skim milk; (naming 
the flavour) Skim milk with 
added milk solids; Relishes; 
Salad dressing  
X.1 Xanthan gum  (1) 
French Dressing; Mincemeat ; 
Salad Dressing; Unstandardized 
Foods  (1) 
Good Manufacturing Practice  
 
 
Rationale  
 
Health Canada’s F ood Directorate completed a pre market safety assessment of the requested use 
of carob bean gum and xanthan gum .  The assessment did not identify any microbiological, 
nutritional or toxicological food safety concerns with their requested use in mincemeat . Since the 
outcome of the safety assessment was favourable,  the Department has enabled the requested use 
of carob bean gum and xanthan gum in mincemeat by modifying the  List of Permitted 
Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing, or Thickening Agents  as shown in the above table.  
 
Other Relevant Information  
 
The Food and Drug Regulations  require that food additives such as carob bean gum and xanthan 
gum that do not have food -grade specifications set out in Part B of the Regulations meet the most 
recent food -grade specifications set out in the Food Chemicals Codex  or the Combined 
Compendium of Food Additive Specifications .  The Food Chemicals Codex  is a compendium of 
standards for purity and identity for food ingredients, including food additives, published by the 
United States Pharmacopeial Convention.  The Combine d Compendium of Food Additive 
Specifications , which contains specifications prepared by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert 
Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), is published by the Food and Agriculture Organization 
of the United Nations  
 
Implementation and Enforcemen t 
 
The above modification came into force September 26 , 2017 , the day it was published in  the 
List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing, or Thickening Agents . 
 Notice of Modification to the List of Permitted Emulsifying, Gelling, Stabilizing or Thickening Agents  
 to Enable the Use of Carob B ean Gum and Xanthan Gum in Mincemeat  
Insert Title of Document  Here – Times New Roman – 12 pt  – White Text  
   
Bureau of Chemical Safety, Food Directorate, Health Products and Food Branch    4 The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is responsible for the enforcement of the Food and Drugs 
Act and its associated regulations with respect to foods.  
 
Contact Information  
 
Health Canada's Food Directorate is committed to reviewing any new scientific information on 
the safety in use of any food additive, including carob bean gum and xanthan gum .  Anyone 
wishing to submit new scientific information on the use of  these additive s or to submit any 
inquiries may do so in writing, by regular mail or electronically.   If you wish to contact the Food 
Directorate electronically, please use the words " carob bean gum  and xanthan gum " in the 
subject line of your e -mail.  
 
Bureau of Chemical Safety, Food Directorate  
251 Sir Frederick Banting Driveway  
Tunney’s Pasture, PL: 2202C  
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0L2  
E-mail: bcs-bipc@h c-sc.gc.ca