What Are Common Food Additives?

Food additives refer to chemically synthesized or natural substances added to food for the purpose of improving food quality, color, aroma, and taste, as well as for the needs of antisepsis and processing technology. Due to the rapid development of the food industry, food additives have become an important part of the modern food industry, and an important driving force for the technological progress and technological innovation of the food industry. In the use of food additives, in addition to ensuring their due functions and effects, the most important thing is to ensure food safety and sanitation.

Food additives have the following three characteristics:

One is a substance added to food, so it is generally not eaten as food alone;

The second is to include both artificially synthesized substances and natural substances;

Third, the purpose of adding it to food is to improve food quality, color, aroma, and taste, as well as to meet the needs of antisepsis, freshness preservation, and processing technology.

There are 7 kinds of common food additives, including preservatives, antioxidants, coloring agents, thickeners, leavening agents, sweeteners, acidulant, etc. There are more than 10,000 kinds of food containing additives.

1. Preservatives - Commonly used are sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate, sulfur dioxide, lactic acid, etc. Used in food processing of jams, preserves, etc.

2. Antioxidants – Similar to preservatives, they can extend the shelf life of food. Vitamin C is commonly used.

3. Coloring agent - commonly used synthetic pigments are carmine, amaranth, tartrazine, indigo and so on. It can change the appearance of food and make it more appetizing.

4. Thickeners and stabilizers - can improve or stabilize the physical properties of cold drinks, making the food smooth and delicate. They keep frozen foods such as ice cream soft and loose for a long time.

5. Leaving agent - adding leavening agent to some candies and chocolates can promote the production of carbon dioxide in the sugar body, thereby playing the role of leavening. Commonly used leavening agents include sodium bicarbonate, ammonium bicarbonate, and compound leavening agents.

6. Sweeteners - Commonly used synthetic sweeteners include sodium saccharin and cyclamate. The purpose is to increase the sense of sweetness.

7. Acidulant - some beverages, candies, etc. often use sour agent to adjust and improve the aroma effect. Commonly used citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, lactic acid and so on.

If there are no suitable additives, a large number of harmful microorganisms may grow in the process of processing food, which will only make it more unsafe. Food additives are used to improve food quality and color, aroma, taste, and antisepsis. Reasonable use of food additives does not affect safety. But excessive consumption is not conducive to the prevention of obesity and diabetes.