FOOD ADDITIVES

Dr. Ananta Saikia

Professor

Department of Horticulture

Assam Agricultural University

Jorhat 785013

Why do we use additives more now than we did in the past?

The public has come to expect food from farmers, processors and retailers to be wholesome and free from microbes, toxins, pesticides and drug residues.

WHOLESOME FOOD……

High in nutritional value Good taste Long shelf life Safe Sensory pleasing

CONDITIONS THAT AFFECT WHOLESOMENESS

Temperature Sanitation Storage Packaging Age Preservation techniques

WHAT ARE FOOD ADDITIVES? Food additives are substances

added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste and appearance.

Food additives are also defined as “any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to a food for a technological purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or storage of such food results, or may be reasonably expected to result, in it or its by-products becoming directly or indirectly a component of such foods”

Food Additives can be intentional or unintentional.

INTENTIONAL ADDITIVES

Enrichment – restore lost nutrients to food

Fortification – increase nutritional value of food

UNINTENTIONAL ADDITIVES

InsecticidesFungicidesHerbicidesPlant Growth RegulatorsHormones and Antibiotics

FUNCTIONS/PURPOSE

Prolong shelf lifeChange/preserve colorEnhance flavorImprove nutritional valueCompensate for vitamin and

mineral deficienciesMaintain freshnessPrevent spoilingFacilitate food processing

DELANEY CLAUSE, 1958

No substance known to cause cancer in animals or humans at any dose level shall be purposefully added to food.

IMPROPER USE

To cover up faulty or inferior products

To deceive consumersTo produce effects that can not be

otherwise be achieved safely

BENEFITS OF FOOD ADDITIVES

Reduce food spoilageMaintain nutrient qualityLower food costsReduce occurrence of disease

RISKS

Cancer, birth defects, allergies, and health problems can result.

Oil is soluble in body fat.

The cost of food production increases for farmers/entrepreneurs.

WHY NOT KEEP TO NATURAL ADDITIVES?

Some artificial colours have almost disappeared from foods being identified as harmful.

No sufficient variety of natural additives required to perform all the required functions of additives.

Manmade additives may prove more efficient at preserving

Some natural colours fade in some products.Source: Food, a fact of life 2009

NUMBERING OF ADDITIVES

Each additive is assigned a unique number, termed as "E numbers“ which is used in Europe for all approved additives. This numbering scheme has now been adopted and extended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission

E 100 – Curcumin, turmericE 123 – AmaranthE 140 – Chlorophylls, ChlorophyllinE 210 – Benzoic acidE 224 – Potassium metabisulphiteE 300 – Ascorbic acidE 330 – Citric acid

TYPES OF ADDITIVES

Natural – found naturally, such as extracts from beetroot juice (E162), used as a colouring agent;

Manmade versions – synthetic identical copies of substances found naturally, such as benzoic acid (E210), used as a preservative;

Artificial – produced synthetically and not found naturally, such as Nisin (E234), used as a preservative in some dairy products and in semolina and tapioca puddings.

CATEGORIES OF FOOD ADDITIVES

ACIDS

Food acids are added to make flavors "sharper", and also act as preservatives and antioxidants.

Common food acids include vinegar, citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, and lactic acid.

ACIDITY REGULATORS

Acidity regulators are used to change or otherwise control the acidity and alkalinity of foods.

Examples --- Acetic acid, Citric acid

ANTIFOAMING AGENTS

Antifoaming agents reduce or prevent foaming in foods.

Examples -- polydimethylsiloxane (a type of silicone). Silicone oil is also added to cooking oil to prevent foaming in deep-frying.

ANTICAKING AGENTS

Anticaking agents keep powders such as milk powder from caking or sticking.

Examples -- Sodium bicarbonate (E500), Calcium silicate (E552), Sodium aluminosilicate (E554), Bentonite (E558)

ANTIOXIDANTS

Antioxidants act as preservatives by inhibiting the effects of oxygen on food, and can be beneficial to health.

Examples – Ascorbic acid (Vit C), Tocopherols (Vit E)

BULKING AGENTS 

Bulking agents such as starch are additives that increase the bulk of a food without affecting its nutritional value.

FOOD COLORING

Colorings are added to food to replace colors lost during preparation, or to make food look more attractive.

Natural colorants are Caramel coloring (E150), Annatto (E160b), chlorophyll (E140), Cochineal (E120), Betanin extracted from beets, Turmeric (curcuminoids, E100), Grape Skin Extract etc.

Synthetic colorants are FD&C Blue No. 1 – (E133), FD&C Green No. 3 (E143), FD&C Red No. 40 (E129) etc.

COLOR RETENTION AGENTS 

In contrast to colorings, color retention agents are used to preserve a food's existing color.

Example – Ascorbic acid (E300)

EMULSIFIERS

Emulsifiers allow water and oils to remain mixed together in an emulsion, as in mayonnaise, ice cream, and homogenized milk.

FLAVOURS

Flavours are additives that give food a particular taste or smell, and may be derived from natural ingredients or created artificially.

FLAVOR ENHANCERS  Flavor enhancers enhance a food's existing

flavors. They may be extracted from natural sources (through distillation, solvent extraction, maceration, among other methods) or created artificially. E620 Glutamic acid E621 Monosodium glutamate, MSG E622 Monopotassium glutamate

FLOUR TREATMENT AGENTS

Flour treatment agents are added to flour to improve its color or its use in baking. azodicarbonamide (E927) carbamide (E927b)

GLAZING AGENTS

Glazing agents provide a shiny appearance or protective coating to foods. Stearic acid (E570) Beeswax (E901) Candelilla wax (E902)

HUMECTANTS

Humectants prevent foods from drying out. Examples – glycerol/propylene glycol

(E1520), and glyceryl triacetate (E1518), sorbitol (E420)

PRESERVATIVES

Preservatives prevent or inhibit spoilage of food due to fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms.

STABILIZERS

Stabilizers, thickeners and gelling agents, like agar or pectin (used in jam for example) give foods a firmer texture. While they are not true emulsifiers, they help to stabilize emulsions.

SWEETENERS

Sweeteners are added to foods for flavoring. Sweeteners other than sugar are added to keep the food energy (calories) low, or because they have beneficial effects for diabetes mellitus and tooth decay and diarrhea.

Some sugar substitutes are natural and some are synthetic. Those that are not natural are, in general, called artificial sweeteners.

Examples -- stevia, aspartame, sucralose, neotame, acesulfame potassium, and saccharin

THICKENERS

Thickeners are substances which, when added to the mixture, increase its viscosity without substantially modifying its other properties.

Example -- arrowroot, cornstarch, potato starch, sago, tapioca, vegetable gums (guar gum, locust bean gum, and xanthan gum, protein (Proteins used as food thickeners include collagen, egg whites etc.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

All the photographs and graphics used in the slides are downloaded versions from web. Thanks to those creators for their brilliant works