“Food additives” has always been a hot topic, what are food additives? What food additives are present in the foods we often buy? Are they really harmful? Today we will get to know them.
What Are Food Additives ？
Food additives are ingredients that are added to foods to carry out particular functions. Manufacturers must provide information about any additives used in the foods they produce. You can find this information in the list of ingredients on the packaging.
Many chemicals are added to food for their preservation and enhance their appeal, these are called food additives.
Different Types Of Food Additives
Food additives are grouped by what they do. The additives that you are most likely to come across on food labels are:
Antioxidants — these stop food becoming rancid or changing colour by reducing the chance of fats combining with oxygen.
Food Colours(dyes)
Emulsifiers, Stabilisers, Gelling agents and Thickeners — these help to mix or thicken ingredients.
Preservatives — used to keep food safer for longer.
Sweeteners — including intense sweeteners like stevia and aspartame which are many times sweeter than sugar.
Flour improvers, Antistaling agents and Bleaches
Nutitional supplements — Vitamins, minerals, and amino acids.
Common food additive vocabulary
Natural sweetener
Cane syrup
honey
lactose (milk sugar)
Artificial sweetener
Sugar substitute
Saccharin
Sucralose
Aspartame
Antioxidant
Butylate hydroxytoluene (BHT)
Butylate hydroxyanisole (BHA)
Ascorbic acid （vitamin C）
Tocopherols（vitamin E）
Sulfur dioxide
Sulfite
Common preservatives
Sodium Benzoate
Potassium Metabisulphite
Salts of propanoic acid
Sorbic acid
Emulsifiers and stabilizers
Glycol esters
Propylene glycol esters
Cellulose ethers
Food coloring
Carmoisine
Erythrosine
Sunset yellow
Are they safe?
Additives = unhealthy?
Food additives are synthetic or natural substances added to food to improve food quality and color, aroma, taste, as well as for the needs of preservative, preservation and processing technology.
As microbes are ready to compete with us for nutrients in food, oxygen in the air also oxidizes and deteriorates the nutrients in food. Therefore, processed foods that do not add food additives at all are rare, and their safety is also worrying.
Is food better without additives?
It is difficult for modern processed foods to completely leave food additives, even if a product claims to be free of “preservatives”, but may not contain “antioxidants” and other food additives, claiming that it does not contain “food coloring”, does not mean that it does not contain flavors, emulsifiers, thickeners and other food additives.
Knowing the food additives in these ingredient lists, whether it is choosing a variety of foods, or imported foods, you must read them carefully, choose foods that meet the standards, so that we can eat healthier and more assured.
