Food
additives - Key facts
- Food additives are substances
added to food to maintain or improve its safety, freshness, taste,
texture, or appearance.
- Food additives need to be
checked for potential harmful effects on human health before they can be
used.
- The Joint FAO/WHO Expert
Committee on Food Additives (JECFA), is the international body responsible
for evaluating the safety of food additives.
- Only food additives that have
been evaluated and deemed safe by JECFA, on the basis of which maximum use
levels have been established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, can be
used in foods that are traded internationally.
What
are food additives?
Substances
that are added to food to maintain or improve the safety, freshness, taste,
texture, or appearance of food are known as food additives. Some food additives
have been in use for centuries for preservation – such as salt (in meats such
as bacon or dried fish), sugar (in marmalade), or sulfur dioxide (in wine).
Many
different food additives have been developed over time to meet the needs of
food production, as making food on a large scale is very different from making
them on a small scale at home. Additives are needed to ensure processed food
remains safe and in good condition throughout its journey from factories or
industrial kitchens, during transportation to warehouses and shops, and finally
to consumers.
The
use of food additives is only justified when their use has a technological
need, does not mislead consumers, and serves a well-defined technological function,
such as to preserve the nutritional quality of the food or enhance the
stability of the food.
Food
additives can be derived from plants, animals, or minerals, or they can be
synthetic. They are added intentionally to food to perform certain technological
purposes which consumers often take for granted. There are several thousand
food additives used, all of which are designed to do a specific job in making
food safer or more appealing. WHO, together with FAO, groups food additives
into 3 broad categories based on their function.
Flavouring agents
Flavouring agents – which are added
to food to improve aroma or taste – make up the greatest number of additives
used in foods. There are hundreds of varieties of flavourings used in a wide
variety of foods, from confectionery and soft drinks to cereal, cake, and
yoghurt. Natural flavouring agents include nut, fruit and spice blends, as well
as those derived from vegetables and wine. In addition, there are flavourings
that imitate natural flavours.
Enzyme
preparations
Enzyme preparations are a type of
additive that may or may not end up in the final food product. Enzymes are
naturally-occurring proteins that boost biochemical reactions by breaking down
larger molecules into their smaller building blocks. They can be obtained by
extraction from plants or animal products or from micro-organisms such as
bacteria and are used as alternatives to chemical-based technology. They are
mainly used in baking (to improve the dough), for manufacturing fruit juices (to
increase yields), in wine making and brewing (to improve fermentation), as well
as in cheese manufacturing (to improve curd formation).
Other
additives
Other food additives are used for a
variety of reasons, such as preservation, colouring, and sweetening. They are
added when food is prepared, packaged, transported, or stored, and they
eventually become a component of the food.
Preservatives can slow decomposition
caused by mould, air, bacteria, or yeast. In addition to maintaining the
quality of the food, preservatives help control contamination that can cause
foodborne illness, including life-threatening botulism.
Colouring is added to food to
replace colours lost during preparation, or to make food look more attractive.
Non-sugar sweeteners are often used
as an alternative to sugar because they contribute fewer or no calories when
added to food.
