U.S. flag An official website of the United States government

On Oct. 1, 2024, the FDA began implementing a reorganization impacting many parts of the agency. We are in the process of updating FDA.gov content to reflect these changes.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration
  1. Home
  2. Food
  3. Food Ingredients & Packaging
  4. Food Additives & Petitions
  5. Substances Added to Food (formerly EAFUS)
  1. Food Additives & Petitions

Substances Added to Food (formerly EAFUS)

The Substances Added to Food inventory replaces what was previously known as Everything Added to Foods in the United States (EAFUS).

The Substances Added to Food inventory includes the following types of ingredients regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA):

  • Food additives and color additives that are listed in FDA regulations (21 CFR Parts 172, 173 and Parts 73, 74 respectively), and flavoring substances evaluated by FEMA* and JECFA*.
  • Generally Recognized as Safe ("GRAS") substances that are listed in FDA regulations (21 CFR Parts 182 and 184).
  • Substances approved for specific uses in foods prior to September 6, 1958, known as prior-sanctioned substances (21 CFR Part 181).
  • Substances formerly used:
    1. Prohibited substances that are listed in FDA regulations (21 CFR Part 189) as prohibited from use in food (labeled as "PROHIBITED" or "PROHIBITED WITH EXCEPTIONS").
    2. Delisted color additives in FDA regulations (21 CFR 81.10 and/or 81.30) (labeled as "DELISTED").
    3. Some substances "no longer FEMA GRAS."

It is important to note that the inventory is only a partial list of food ingredients. Inclusion in this inventory of information from non-FDA entities does not indicate an FDA approval or evaluation of this use.

Users also have the option to search multiple food ingredient and packaging inventories at one time. This includes the following substances not listed in the Substances Added to Food inventory:

Substances Added to Food Inventory

* Footnotes:

FEMA: The trade association, Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association (FEMA), has established expert panels that evaluate and make independent conclusions on the GRAS status of flavoring substances.

JECFA: The Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is an international expert scientific committee that is administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Back to Top