Food Additives

• Food additives


  Substances added to products to perform specific technological functions
• Food additives


  • Preserving
  • Increasing shelf-life or inhibiting the growth of pathogens
  • Adding coloring and flavoring to food
  • Substance or a mixture of substance other than basic foodstuffs
• Food additives


  • Added to foods in precise amounts during processing
  • Maintaining the nutritional quality of the food
  • Enhancing the keeping quality or stability of food
  • Making food attractive to consumers
  • Providing essentials aids in food processing
• Food additives


  Substances added to food to improve its storage properties, appearance, flavor, and nutritional value
• Natural additives


  Came from plants and animals
• Artificial additives


  Produced synthetically and not found naturally
• Manmade additives


  Synthetic identical copies of substances found naturally
• Some artificial colors have almost disappeared from foods as companies realized that many consumers prefer food products to contain natural colors
• At present there is not the variety of natural additives required to perform all the functions of additives necessary
• Manmade additives may prove more efficient at preserving, and some natural colors fade in some products
• Classification of food additives

  • Preservatives
  • Antioxidants
  • Colorants/Colors
  • Flavor Enhancers
  • Sweeteners
  • Acids, Bases and Buffers
  • Anti-caking Agents
  • Anti-foaming Agents
  • Glazing Agents
  • Emulsifiers, stabilizers, gelling agents and thickeners
• Preservatives


  • Prevent the growth of micro-organisms
  • Extend the shelf-life of products
• Preservatives


  • Nitrite and nitrate (E249 to E252) used in curing bacon, ham, corned beef and other 'cured' meats
• Antioxidants


  • Prevent food containing fat or oil from going rancid due to oxidation
  • Prevent the browning of cut fruit, vegetables and fruit juices
• Antioxidants


  • Vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, or E300
• Colorants/colors


  • Restore color lost during processing or storage
  • Ensure that each batch produced is identical in appearance or does not appear 'off'
  • Reinforce color already in foods
  • Give color to foods which otherwise would be colorless
• Artificial food colours


  • Sunset yellow (E110), quinoline yellow (E104), carmoisine (E122), allura red (E129), tartrazine (E102) and ponceau 4R (E124)
• Certain combinations of the artificial food colours have been linked to a negative effect on children's behaviour
• Flavour enhancers


  Bring out the flavor in foods without imparting a flavor of their own
• Flavorings


  Added to a wide range of foods, usually in small amounts to give a particular taste
• Sweeteners


  • Intense sweeteners have a sweetness many times that of sugar and are used in small amounts
  • Bulk sweeteners have a similar sweetness to sugar and are used at similar levels
• If concentrated cordial drinks that contain sweeteners are given to children between the ages of 6 months to 4 years, it is important to dilute them more than for adults
• Acids, bases and buffers


  • Control the acidity or alkalinity of food, for safety and stability of flavor
• Anti-caking agents


  • Ensure free movement or flow of particles
• Anti-caking agents

  • Silicone dioxide, calcium silicate
• Anti-foaming agents


  • Prevent or disperse frothing
• Anti-foaming agents


  • Polydimethysiloxane
• Glazing agents


  Provide a protective coating or sheen on the surface of foods
• Emulsifiers, stabilisers, gelling agents and thickeners

  • Emulsifiers help mix ingredients together that would normally separate
  • Stabilisers prevent ingredients from separating again
  • Emulsifers and stabilisers give food a consistent texture
  • Gelling agents are used to change the consistency of a food
  • Thickeners help give food body
• The food additives being used should present no risk to the health of the consumer at the levels of use
• Purposes of using food additives

  • To preserve the nutritional quality of the food
  • To enhance the keeping quality or stability of a food or to improve its organoleptic properties
  • To provide necessary constituents for foods manufactured for groups of consumers having special dietary needs
• Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA)


  The international body responsible for evaluating the safety of food additives
• Codex Alimentarius Commission


  The body that establishes maximum use levels for food additives that have been evaluated and deemed safe by JECFA
• Food additives play a key role in maintaining the food qualities and characteristics that consumers demand, keeping food safe, wholesome and appealing from farm to fork
• Hazards of food additives


  • Laughing at inappropriate times
  • Strange rashes that appear on the body
  • Erratic behaviors and moods
  • Self-stimulatory behaviors
  • Waking up in the middle of the night
  • Having a difficult time with their stools
  • Headaches
• Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (Republic Act No. 3720)


  An Act to ensure the safety and purity of food, drugs and cosmetics being made available to the public by creating the Food and Drug Administration which shall administer and enforce the laws pertaining thereto
• Canning


  Pasteurizing food in jars
• Pasteurizing is effective as a method of sterilizing food because bacteria cannot survive when exposed to temperatures above 180 degrees Fahrenheit for an extended period of time
• Heat destroys organisms that are present in the food that would eventually spoil it
• Airtight sealing prevents organisms from entering containers and spoiling food