ANSWER
According to Preservatives in Food Regulations, Tertiary Butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) is allowed to be used in some food categories and their maximum usage levels are listed below:
| Food Category or sub-category | Maximum permitted level(ppm, unless otherwise specified) | Note |
| Beverage whiteners | 100 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Milk powder and cream powder analogues | 100 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Vegetable oils and fats | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Lard, tallow, fish oil and other animal fats | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Margarine and similar products | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Blends of butter and margarine | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Emulsions containing less than 80% fat, including fat-reduced butter, fat-reduced margarine and their mixtures | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Fat emulsions mainly of type oil-in-water, including mixed and/or flavoured products based on fat emulsions, excluding products with fat derived from milkfat and dessert products of food category 2.4 and its sub-categories (if applicable) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Fat-based desserts, excluding dairy-based dessert products of food category 1.6 and its sub-categories (if applicable) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Edible ices, including water-based frozen desserts, confections and novelties (e.g. sherbet and sorbet) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| White chocolate | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Confectionery, including hard candy, soft candy and nougats, excluding products of food categories 5.1, 5.3 and 5.4 and their sub-categories (if applicable) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Marzipans | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Chewing gum | 400 | Note 2 |
| Decorations (e.g. for fine bakery wares), toppings (non-fruit) and sweet sauces | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Pre-cooked pastas and noodles and like products | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Instant noodles | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Breads and rolls (e.g. white breads, rye breads, raisin breads, whole wheat breads, whole wheat rolls and soda breads) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Crackers (e.g. soda crackers, rye crisps), excluding flavoured crackers of food category 14.1 and its sub-categories (if applicable) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Other ordinary bakery products (e.g. bagels, pita and English muffins) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Bread-type products, including bread stuffing and bread crumbs | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Cured (including salted) non-heat treated processed meat, poultry and game products in whole pieces or cuts | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 25 |
| Cured (including salted) and dried non-heat treated processed meat, poultry and game products in whole pieces or cuts | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 25 |
| Fermented non-heat treated processed meat, poultry and game products in whole pieces or cuts | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 25 |
| Heat-treated processed meat, poultry and game products in whole pieces or cuts including cooked (including cured and cooked, and dried and cooked), heat-treated (including sterilized) and canned meat cuts | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 25 |
| Cured and heat-treated meat | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 25 |
| Frozen processed meat, poultry and game products in whole pieces or cuts, including raw and cooked meat cuts that have been frozen | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 25 |
| Cured (including salted) non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Cured (including salted) and dried non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Fermented non-heat treated processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Heat-treated processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products, including cooked (including cured and cooked, and dried and cooked), heat-treated (including sterilized) and canned comminuted products (e.g. foie gras and pates, cooked meatballs) | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Cured and heat-treated processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products (e.g. cooked, cured chopped meat, canned corned beef and luncheon meat) | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Heat-treated hamburgers or similar products | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Heat-treated sausages or sausage meat (e.g. breakfast sausages) | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Frozen processed comminuted meat, poultry and game products, including raw, partially cooked and fully cooked products (e.g. frozen breaded or battered chicken fingers) | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Frozen hamburgers or similar products | 100 | Note 1, 2 and 26 |
| Herbs and spices (e.g. basil, oregano, chilli paste and curry paste) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Curry paste | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Condiments (e.g. meat tenderisers, onion salt and garlic salt), excluding condiment sauces (e.g. ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Mustards | 200 | Note 1 |
| Dijon mustards | 200 | Note 1 |
| Ready-to-eat soups and broths, including canned, bottled, and frozen (e.g. bouillon, consommes, water- and cream-based soups, chowders and bisques) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Mixes for soups and broths (e.g. bouillon powders and cubes, powdered and condensed soups and stock cubes and powders) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Emulsified sauces (e.g. mayonnaise and salad dressing) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Non-emulsified sauces, including water-, coconut milk- and milk-based sauces (e.g. barbecue sauce, ketchup, cheese sauce, cream sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown gravy and chilli sauce) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Mixes for sauces and gravies (e.g. mixes for cheese sauce, hollandaise sauce and salad dressing) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Fish sauce and oyster sauce | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Snacks – potato, cereal, flour or starch based (from roots and tubers, pulses and legumes), including all plain and flavoured savoury snacks (e.g. potato chips, popcorn and flavoured crackers), excluding plain crackers of food category 7.1.2 and its sub-categories (if applicable) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Processed nuts, including coated nuts and nut mixtures (with e.g. dried fruit) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
| Snacks – fish based, excluding dried fish snacks of food category 9.2.6 and dried meat snacks of food category 8.3.2 and their sub-categories (if applicable) | 200 | Note 1 and 2 |
Remark:
Note 1 – Levels of butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, propyl gallate, octyl gallate, dodecyl gallate, tertiary butylhydroquinone, thiosipropionic acid and guaiac resin, are calculated against the weight of the fat or oil content of the food
Note 2 – In relation to butylated hydroxyanisole, butylated hydroxytoluene, propyl gallate, octyl gallate, dodecyl gallate and tertiary butylhydroquinone, 2 or more of these food additives can be used in combination only if the following condition is satisfied: when the quantity of each such food additive present in that food is expressed as a percentage of the maximum permitted level, the sum of those percentages does not exceed 100.
Note 25 – For use in dehydrated products only.
Note 26 – For use in dehydrated products and in salami-type products only.
Reference
Centre for Food Safety. (2017). Preservatives in Food Regulations.
