The International Numbering System for Food Additives (INS) is an international naming system for food additives, aimed at providing a short designation of what may be a lengthy actual name.
[1] It is defined by Codex Alimentarius, the international food standards organisation of the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN).
The INS is an open list, "subject to the inclusion of additional additives or removal of existing ones on an ongoing basis".
[1] INS numbers consist of three or four digits, optionally followed by an alphabetical suffix to further characterize individual additives.
INS numbers are assigned by the committee to identify each food additive.