Food additive numbers: what do they mean?

Food additive numbers: what do they mean?

What are food additive numbers, and why are they in our test recipe?
While developing our slow-cooked beef with mash and greens, we carefully reviewed every ingredient in the commercial beef stock powder used in our first test batch.

Alongside salt, starches and flavorings, its label included the numbers 621, 635 and 341.

Rather than leaving those numbers unexplained, we saw an opportunity to understand what they mean, why they are used and whether this stock aligns with the kind of food Daily Nourish is working towards.

The short answer
Food additive numbers are standardized codes used to identify particular food additives. In this stock, 621 and 635 are flavor enhancers, while 341 is an anti-caking agent.

Their presence does not automatically mean that a food is unsafe: permitted additives are assessed by Food Standards Australia New Zealand.

For Daily Nourish, the more useful question is whether each ingredient serves a worthwhile purpose, and whether we can produce the same satisfying flavor with a simpler ingredient list.

What we noticed

The commercial stock powder was a convenient and consistent starting point for our first recipe test. However, when we read the complete label, we found that its main ingredients included salt, maltodextrin, sugar and starch, together with flavor enhancers and an anti-caking agent. Beef powder made up 0.5% of the product.

That did not make the stock inherently unsafe, but it prompted us to ask whether it reflects what Daily Nourish ultimately wants to offer: satisfying food made predominantly from recognisable ingredients, with every ingredient clearly explained.

The label also carries a broad “may contain” allergen advisory. This is separate from the food additive numbers and indicates a possible cross-contact risk during the stock manufacturer’s production process, not that all of those allergens were intentionally included in the stock.

What the label and evidence say

Food Standards Australia New Zealand requires most food additives in packaged food to be identified by their functional class, such as flavor enhancer or anti-caking agent, followed by either the additive’s name or its code number.

The three additive numbers in this stock are:

  •  621 — monosodium glutamate, commonly known as MSG. This is a flavour enhancer used to strengthen the existing savoury flavour of food.
  • 635 — disodium 5′-ribonucleotides. This is another flavour enhancer, often used alongside MSG to intensify savoury or umami flavours.
  • 341 — calcium phosphates. In this product, these are used as an anti-caking agent to help keep the stock powder free-flowing.

FSANZ assesses food additives before permitting their use in Australia and New Zealand. Its assessment considers whether an additive is safe at the proposed level and whether there is a legitimate technological reason for using it.

Numbers therefore provide a standardised way of identifying additives. They should not automatically be interpreted as meaning that an ingredient is dangerous or of poor quality.

What it means for Daily Nourish

The stock powder represents only a small part of the complete meal. The recipe itself is predominantly beef chuck, potatoes, tomatoes, broccoli, peas, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, herbs and water.

However, compound ingredients such as stock still matter. Their sub-ingredients become part of our meal, affect the final ingredient declaration and can introduce precautionary allergen statements that customers need to understand.

Daily Nourish is not working towards an arbitrary rule that every processed ingredient must be excluded. Our principle is to begin with recognisable ingredients and use a processed or convenience ingredient only when it provides a clear benefit.

In this case, we believe it is worth investigating whether we can achieve the same depth of flavour with a simpler stock.

What we’re doing next

Before finalising the slow-cooked beef recipe, we intend to:

  •  Source and test commercially prepared beef stocks with simpler ingredient lists and no added flavour enhancers or anti-caking agents.
  • Obtain complete ingredient and allergen specifications from prospective suppliers.
  • Investigate producing our own beef stock from beef bones, vegetables and herbs.
  •  Compare flavour, consistency, labour, cost, storage and food-safety requirements.
  • Conduct side-by-side tasting before deciding which option belongs in the final recipe.

Until that decision is made, we will continue declaring the commercial stock and all of its relevant sub-ingredients transparently.

The goal is not to remove ingredients simply because they have unfamiliar names or numbers. It is to understand what each ingredient does and decide whether it earns its place in the finished meal.

Sources

Last reviewed: 27 August 2026


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