Many different food additives have been developed over time to meet the needs of large-scale food processing. Additives are added to ensure processed food remains safe and in good condition throughout its journey from factories or industrial kitchens, to warehouses and shops, and finally to consumers. Additives are also used to modify the sensory properties of foods including taste, smell, texture and appearance.
Food additives can be derived from plants, animals or minerals, or they can be chemically synthesized. There are several thousand food additives used, all of which are designed to do a specific job. Food additives can be grouped into 3 broad categories based on their function.
Flavouring agents are chemicals that impart flavours or fragrances and are added to food to modify its aroma or taste. They are the most common type of additive used in foods, with hundreds of varieties used in a wide variety of foods, from confectionery and soft drinks to cereal, cake and yoghurt. Flavouring agents can be extracted from naturally occurring sources (e.g. plant or animal sources) or chemically synthesized. Flavours extracted directly from naturally occurring sources are often referred to as natural flavours. Such flavours can also be chemically synthesized and are sometimes referred to as nature made or nature identical to indicate that although the flavour molecule itself is naturally occurring it hasn&#;t been extracted from its source, but synthesized to be identical. Artificial flavouring agents are chemicals that do not exist in nature but are synthesized to imitate natural flavours or elicit other taste sensations. Culinary ingredients, including spices, nuts and dried fruits or vegetables, can also modify aroma or taste, but are generally not considered flavouring agents.
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 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 processing or other production, or to make food appear more attractive.
Non-sugar sweeteners are often used as an alternative to sugar because they contribute fewer or no calories when added to food. WHO has issued a recommendation against the use of non-sugar sweeteners in general, based on evidence that they don&#;t seem to benefit long term weight loss or maintenance and may increase risk of noncommunicable diseases.
Food additives are assessed for potential harmful effects on human health before they are approved for use. Authoritative bodies at the national, regional and international levels are responsible for evaluating the safety of food additives. The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) is the international body responsible for evaluating the safety of food additives for use in foods that are traded internationally.
WHO, in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is responsible for assessing the risks to human health from food additives. Risk assessments of food additives are conducted by an independent, international expert scientific group &#; the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA).
Only food additives that have undergone a JECFA safety assessment and are found not to present an appreciable health risk to consumers can be used internationally. This applies whether food additives come from natural sources or they are synthetic. National authorities, either based on the JECFA assessment or a national assessment, can then authorize the use of food additives at specified levels for specific foods.
JECFA evaluations are based on scientific reviews of all available biochemical, toxicological, and other relevant data on a given additive &#; mandatory tests in animals, research studies and observations in humans are considered. The toxicological tests required by JECFA include acute, short-term and long-term studies that determine how the food additive is absorbed, distributed and excreted, and possible harmful effects of the additive or its by-products at certain exposure levels.
The starting point for determining whether a food additive can be used without having harmful effects is to establish the acceptable daily intake (ADI). The ADI is an estimate of the amount of an additive in food or drinking water that can be safely consumed daily over a lifetime without adverse health effects.
The safety assessments completed by JECFA are used by the joint intergovernmental food standard-setting body of FAO and WHO, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, to establish levels for maximum use of additives in food and drinks. Codex standards are the reference for national standards for consumer protection, and for the international trade in food, so that consumers everywhere can be confident that the food they eat meets the agreed standards for safety and quality, no matter where it was produced.
Once a food additive has been found to be safe for use by JECFA and maximum use levels have been established in the Codex General Standard for Food Additives, national food regulations need to be implemented permitting the actual use of a food additive.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission also establishes standards and guidelines on food labelling. These standards are implemented in most countries, and food manufacturers are obliged to indicate which additives are in their products. In the European Union, for example, there is legislation governing labelling of food additives according to a set of pre-defined E-numbers. People who have allergies or sensitivities to certain food additives should check labels carefully.
WHO encourages national authorities to monitor and ensure that food additives in food and drinks produced in their countries comply with permitted uses, conditions and legislation. National authorities should oversee the food business, which carries the primary responsibility for ensuring that the use of a food additive is safe and complies with legislation.
Food additives are chemicals added to foods to keep them fresh or to enhance their colour, flavour or texture. They may include food colourings (such as tartrazine or cochineal), flavour enhancers (such as MSG) or a range of preservatives.
Most food additives are listed on the product label, along with other ingredients, in a descending order by weight (flavours are an exception and do not need to be identified). Sometimes, the additive is spelt out in full. At other times, it is represented by a code number: for example, cochineal may be listed as Colouring (120); sodium sulphite may be shown as Preservative (221).
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ)External Link is responsible for the approval of which food additives are allowed in Australian foods. All food additives used in Australia undergo a safety assessment, which includes rigorous testing, before they are approved.
Toxicological tests on animals are used to determine the amount of the additive that is expected to be safe when consumed by humans. This is usually an amount 100 times less than the maximum daily dose at which &#;no observable effects&#; are produced by an additive consumed over the test animal&#;s lifetime.
If there is any doubt over the safety of an additive, approval is not given. If new scientific information becomes available suggesting that a food additive is no longer safe, the approval to use the food additive would be withdrawn.
Most food additives are tested in isolation, rather than in combination with other additives. The long-term effects of consuming a combination of different additives are currently unknown.
Some people are sensitive to particular food additives and may have reactions like hives or diarrhoea. This doesn&#;t mean that all foods containing additives need to be automatically treated with suspicion. All foods are made up of chemicals and food additives are not always &#;less safe&#; than naturally occuring chemicals.
Many of the food additives used by the food industry also occur naturally within foods that people eat every day. For example, MSG is found naturally in parmesan cheese, sardines and tomato in significantly greater quantities than the MSG present as a food additive. People with food allergies and intolerances are also often sensitive to chemicals found naturally in certain foods, such as nuts or shellfish.
Many people view food additives as a major food threat. However, in terms of health risk, food additives would come in at the end of the line, after food-borne microorganisms (like salmonella), inappropriate hygiene and eating habits, environmental contaminants and naturally occurring toxins.
The different types of food additive and their uses include:
There is a common misconception that processed foods automatically contain food additives. Foods like long-life milk, canned foods and frozen foods are all processed, yet none of them need extra chemicals.
If you are unsure whether or not a product contains an additive, check the label. However, some listed ingredients may contain food additives without mentioning them on the label. For instance, &#;margarine&#; might be a listed ingredient and margarine contains food additives.
For most people, additives are not a problem in the short term. However, 50 of the 400 currently approved additives in Australia have been associated with adverse reactions in some people. Some food additives are more likely than others to cause reactions in sensitive people.
It is often the additives that are used to give a food a marketable quality, such as colour, that most commonly cause allergic reactions. Some of these hypersensitive reactions include:
It is important to realise that many of the symptoms experienced as a result of food sensitivities can be caused by other disorders. Medical diagnosis is important. If you try to diagnose yourself, you may restrict your diet unnecessarily and neglect an illness.
Some food additives that may cause problems for some people include:
If you think you may have a food additive sensitivity, it&#;s important to seek professional help since all of the symptoms you may be experiencing can also be caused by other disorders.
It may help to keep a food diary and note carefully any adverse reactions. In the case of a sensitivity being identified, the usual practice is to eliminate all suspect foods from the diet and then reintroduce them one by one to see which additive (or additives) causes the reaction. This should only be done under medical supervision, since some of the reactions &#; such as asthma &#; can be serious.