What is Food Additive?

What is Food Additive?
The broadest definition of a food additive is any substance that becomes part of a food product, either directly or indirectly, during some phase of processing, storage or packaging.

The universe of food additives encompasses:
Direct Food Additives
Direct food additives, these that rare intentionally added to food for a functional purpose, in controlled amounts, usually at low levels (from parts per million to 1-2%, by weight.)

Indirect Food Addictive
Indirect or incidental food additives, those entering into food products in small quantities as a result of growing or packaging.

The difference between food ingredients and additives is mainly in the quantity used in any given formulation.

Food ingredients can be consumed alone as food (e.g., sucrose), whole food additive are used in small quantities (usually less than 2%) relative to the total food composition but which nonetheless play a large part in the production of desirable and safe food products.

Food additives may be looked upon as minor ingredients incorporated into foods to affect their properties in some desired way.

Most commonly, the effects desired relate to color, flavor texture nutritive value, or stability on storage.

There is no rigorous definition that meets all needs.

The Codex Alimentarius, which dominates actions in international circles, considers an additive as a ingredient “not normally consumed as a food by itself and normally used as a typical ingredient.”
What is Food Additive?