Food Additives: Types and Concerns

Processed and mass-produced foods frequently incorporate food additives, which are substances added primarily for technical purposes. These additives serve various functions, such as improving safety, extending shelf life, or altering the sensory characteristics of food. Throughout history, substances like salt, spices, and sulfites have been employed to safeguard and enhance the flavor of foods.

It's noteworthy that many additives utilized by the food industry occur naturally in everyday foods. For example, MSG is found in higher quantities naturally in parmesan cheese, sardines, and tomatoes than when added as a food supplement.

Food additives can be broadly divided into three groups based on their functions: flavoring agents, enzyme preparations, and other additives that fulfill roles such as preservation, coloring, and sweetening.

Some of the most common food additives include monosodium glutamate (MSG), artificial food coloring, sodium nitrite, guar gum, and high-fructose corn syrup. These additives play a pivotal role in the development of modern products like low-calorie options, snacks, and ready-to-eat convenience foods.

Nevertheless, specific individuals may encounter issues with particular additives. Examples include flavor enhancers like monosodium glutamate (MSG) 621, food colorings such as tartrazine 102, yellow 2G107, sunset yellow FCF110, and cochineal 120. Additionally, preservatives like benzoates (210, 211, 212, 213), nitrates (249, 250, 251, 252), and sulphites (220, 221, 222, 223, 224, 225, 228), as well as the artificial sweetener aspartame (951), may cause problems for certain individuals.

In conclusion, while food additives play a crucial role in the production and preservation of a diverse range of food products, it's essential to be mindful of potential sensitivities or reactions that some individuals may experience with specific additives.
Food Additives: Types and Concerns

Free radicals and food quality

Oxygen is an element indispensable for life. When cells use oxygen to generate energy, free radicals are created as a consequence of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) production by the mitochondria.

A free radical can be defined as an atom or molecule containing one or more unpaired electrons in valency shell or outer orbit and is capable of independent existence.

The presence of an unpaired electron results in certain common properties that are shared by most radicals. Many radicals are unstable and highly reactive. They can either donate an electron to or accept an electron from other molecules, therefore behaving as oxidants or reductants.

If free radicals overwhelm the body’s ability to regulate them, a condition known as oxidative stress ensues. Oxidative stress plays a major part in the development of chronic and degenerative ailments such as cancer, arthritis, aging, autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.

In food, free radicals are derived from major food components or their reactive constituents, such as proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. The formation and decay of free radicals lead to chemical changes in food and thus affect food quality during processing and storage.

The free radicals promote the development of a series of chemical reactions which lead to the production of off-flavors, colors, odors, and rancidity. While both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids are susceptible to oxidation, unsaturated fatty acids are significantly more susceptible than their saturated counterparts at room temperatures and at elevated temperatures.

Synthetic and natural food antioxidants are used routinely in foods and medicine especially those containing oils and fats to protect the food against oxidation. There are a number of synthetic phenolic antioxidants, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) being prominent examples.

Tea and rosemary extracts are known as efficient natural antioxidants to prevent lipid oxidation in the food industry. The antioxidant activities of tea and rosemary are associated with the presence of phenolic compounds, which can break the lipid radical chain reaction and thus inhibit lipid oxidation.
Free radicals and food quality

Intentional food additive

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance. Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling with vinegar, salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines.

Sometimes additives are divided into two categories:
1. Intentional or direct
2. Incidental or indirect

Intentional or direct food additives are commonly those that have been deliberately added for some special function by the food processor (usually the company), while indirect additives are usually those that may have drifted into food products in minute quantities due to e.g. growing, processing, or packaging phase during the food production process.

Intentional additives have been purposely added to foods to achieve specific effects during production or processing or to impart or retain desired characteristics.

Today, more than 2500 different additives are intentionally added to foods to produce a desired effect. The use of these additives is a well-accepted practice but is not without controversy.

A food additive may only be authorized if:
• Its safety has been evaluated on the basis of the available scientific evidence
• On the basis of this evaluation, it is considered to present no hazard to the health of the consumer at the level of use proposed
• There is a technological need for its use that cannot be achieved by other economically and technologically practicable means
Intentional food additive

What are the reasons antioxidants added to foods?

Antioxidants are food additives used since about 1947, to stabilize foods that by their composition would otherwise undergo significant loss in quality in the presence of oxygen.

The uses of antioxidant have a positive effect relative to nutrition. For example, without added antioxidant, essential unsaturated fatty acids, and certain vitamins can be degraded with processing and storage thereby lowering the overall nutritional value of certain foods.

Vitamin C

Oxidative quality changes in foods inlcdue:
*The development of rancidity from the oxidation of unsaturated fats resulting in off-odors and off-flavors
*Discoloration from oxidation of pigments or other components of the food

Antioxidants play an important role in the deceleration of lipid oxidation reactions in foodstuff. According to FDA they are defined as: substances used as preservatives, with the aim to reduce spoilage, rancidity or food discoloration, which are derived from oxidations.

These are some examples of antioxidant food additives:
*Ascorbic acid
*Butylated hydroxyanisole
*Butylated hydroxytoluene
*Propyl gallate
*Tocopherols
What are the reasons antioxidants added to foods?

Food additive for bread

Food additive are substances added to foods during processing to either help preserve them, improve color or flavor, or make their texture more appealing.

By adding such mold-inhibitor chemicals to breads today’s baked loaves will not go moldy and will remain edible for a longer period of time.

Sodium diacetate and sodium or calcium propionates are used in breads to prevent mold growth and the development of bacteria that may produce a slimy material known as rope.

Calcium propionate is an approved preservative in bread and helps to keep the bread fresh.

By inhibiting the growth of mold and other microorganisms, propionates allow consumers the convenience of keeping soft, fresh bread in the home without having to purchase it every day.

Sodium diacetate is equally effective in the baking industry where its inhibitory powers prevent the growth of bread mold and rope-forming bacteria, such as Bacillus mesentericus, while having little effect in baker’s yeast.

Sorbic acid and its salts may be used in bakery products, cheeses, syrups, and pie fillings to prevent mold growth. Compared with propionates, sorbic acid is notable amongst other things for having a considerably more powerful antimicrobial action, especially against Trichosporon variable, a mold occasionally found on rye bread.
Food additive for bread 

Food Additives

Food Additives
The use of food additives dates back to ancient times. Examples of these early additives are salt to preserve meats and fish, herbs and spices for seasoning foods, sugar to preserve fruits and vinegar vegetable.

Today manufacturers use more than 3,000 food additives.

A commonly used definition of a food additive is any substance added to a food either directly or indirectly though production, processing, storing or packaging.

Food additives serve a number of functions:

Preservatives to keep food fresh and to prevent spoilage.
This is important, as in our modern lifestyle; food is rarely eaten at the time or place it is produced. Calcium propionate inhibits molds and is often added to bread products for this purpose.

Nutrients to improve or maintain the nutritional quality of foods. Most salt contains iodine to prevent goiter a condition resulting for iodine deficiency.

Processing aids to maintain product texture such as retaining moisture, preventing lumping, or adding stability. Powdered foods such as cocoa contain silicon dioxide to prevent clumping when water is added.

Flavors to enhance or change the status or aroma of a food. These include spices, herbs, flavor enhancers, natural and synthetic flavors and sweeteners.

Colors to glove foods an appealing look. Many of the colors associated with foods are from added colorings, such a caramel to make cola drinks brown and annatto to make margarine yellow.

Food additives are derived from naturally occurring and synthetic materials. Scientist can now synthesize in the laboratory many additives that used to be derived from natural sib stance, creating a larger and cheaper supply.

Food additives allow us to enjoy safe, wholesome, tasty foods each year round without the inconvenience of growing our own foods or shopping daily. Convenience foods are made possible by the use of food additives.
Food Additives

Vitamins as Food Additive

Vitamins as Food Additive
Oxidation, a series of chemical reactions yielding undesirable and products (off odors, colors, and flavors), may occur in many fruits and vegetables and foods high in fat and oil during exposure to air, light, heat, heavy metals, certain pigments or alkaline conditions. Enzymatic browning may occur in some fruits and vegetables, particularly apples, banana, peaches, pear, and potatoes, which contain phenolase enzymes. When these fruits and vegetables are cut or sliced and exposed to air, the phenolases catalyze oxidation of phenolics compounds to ortho-quinone compounds, which then polymerize, forming brown pigments.

Oxidation in lipids (autoxidation) and in fat and oil containing foods, on the other hand, occurs as a result of the susceptibility of fatty acids (building blocks of fats and oils) to oxidations and subsequent formation of reactive compounds referred to as “free radicals”.

The free radicals promote the development of a series of chemical reactions which lead to the production of off-flavors, colors, odors, and rancidity. While both saturated and unsaturated fatty acids are susceptible to oxidation, unsaturated fatty acids are significantly more susceptible than their saturated counterparts at room temperatures and at elevated temperatures.

Antioxidants, as defined by Food and Drug Administration are “substances used to preserve food by retarding deterioration, rancidity or discoloration due to oxidation.” Some oxidations have more than one function. For example, Ascorbic acids may function as a free-radical chain terminator, and oxygen scavenger, or a metal chelator. Under certain conditions, it may act as a promoter for oxidation.
Vitamins as Food Additive

Salt, acids and nitrites

Salt, acids and nitrites
Salt is an excellent microbial inhibitor, mainly due to its suppression of the water activity of the material to which it is added. Its effectiveness is enhanced when the food is also dried or smoked or both. Smoking also imparts a partial preservative effect.

Weak acids, such as sorbic acid, or salt of weak acids, benzoates, propionates, nitrites, certain chelating agents (chemicals that tie up metals and prevent the catalytic action of metals), and other chemical additives are effective preservatives.

Natural spices also have antimicrobial properties. Antibiotics, relatively new antimicrobial agents, have been used as food additives and are still used to preserve animal feeds and human foods in some countries. Their use in human foods is banned in the United States and in some other countries.

Since many antimicrobial agents are generally toxic to humans, their use must be regulated no to exceed established levels beyond which they are hazardous to human health.

Nitrites, proven inhibitors of Clostridium botulinum, and nitrates are added to cured meats, not only to prevent botulism, but also to conserve the desirable color as well as add to the flavor of the products.
Salt, acids and nitrites