This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives, including flavouring agents, and to prepare specifications for identity and purity. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of and assessment of dietary exposure to food additives, including flavouring agents. A summary follows of the Committee’s evaluations of technical, toxicological and dietary exposure data for eight food additives (Benzoe tonkinensis; carrageenan; citric and fatty acid esters of glycerol; gardenia yellow; lutein esters from Tagetes erecta; octenyl succinic acid-modified gum arabic; octenyl succinic acid-modified starch; paprika extract; and pectin) and eight groups of flavouring agents (aliphatic and alicyclic hydrocarbons; aliphatic and aromatic ethers; ionones and structurally related substances; miscellaneous nitrogen-containing substances; monocyclic and bicyclic secondary alcohols, ketones and related esters; phenol and phenol derivatives; phenyl-substituted aliphatic alcohols and related aldehydes and esters; and sulfur-containing heterocyclic compounds).