This report represents the conclusions of a Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee (JECFA) convened to evaluate the safety of various food additives and to prepare specifications for the identity and purity of the food additives. The first part of the report contains a general discussion of the principles governing the toxicological evaluation of compounds on the agenda and includes information requirements for submissions on products derived from natural sources. Also described are updates on activities relevant to JECFA from the Forty-ninth Session of the Codex Committee on Food Additives (CCFA), the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) and JECFA publications. Next is a summary of the Committee's evaluations of technical, toxicological and dietary exposure data for nine food additives: Brilliant Blue FCF; betta-carotene-rich extract from Dunaliella salina; Fast Green FCF; gum ghatti; Jagua (Genipin-Glycine) Blue; metatartaric acid; tamarind seed polysaccharide; tannins; and yeast extracts containing mannoproteins. Specifications for the following food additives were revised: microcrystalline cellulose; silicon dioxide, amorphous; sodium aluminium silicate; steviol glycosides; and sucrose esters of fatty acids. Annexed to the report are tables summarizing the Committee's recommendations for dietary exposures to all of the food additives as well as toxicological information, dietary exposures and information on specifications.