Food additive
Food additives are substances added to
Numbering
To regulate these additives and inform consumers, each additive is assigned a unique number called an "E number", which is used in Europe for all approved additives. This numbering scheme has now been adopted and extended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission to internationally identify all additives,[3] regardless of whether they are approved for use.
E numbers are all prefixed by "E", but countries outside Europe use only the number, whether the additive is approved in Europe or not. For example, acetic acid is written as E260 on products sold in Europe, but is simply known as additive 260 in some countries. Additive 103, alkannin, is not approved for use in Europe so does not have an E number, although it is approved for use in Australia and New Zealand. Since 1987, Australia has had an approved system of labelling for additives in packaged foods. Each food additive has to be named or numbered. The numbers are the same as in Europe, but without the prefix "E".[citation needed]
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lists these items as "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS);[4] they are listed under both their Chemical Abstracts Service number and FDA regulation under the United States Code of Federal Regulations.
- See list of food additives for a complete list of all the names.[citation needed]
Categories
Food additives can be divided into several groups, although there is some overlap because some additives exert more than one effect. For example, salt is both a preservative as well as a flavor.[5][1]
- Acidulants
- Acidulants confer sour or acid taste. Common acidulants include vinegar, citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, and lactic acid.
- Acidity regulators
- Acidity regulators are used for controlling the pH of foods for stability or to affect activity of enzymes.
- Anticaking agents
- Anticaking agents keep powders such as milk powder from caking or sticking.
- Antifoaming and foaming agents
- Antifoaming agents reduce or prevent foaming in foods. Foaming agents do the reverse.
- Antioxidants
- Antioxidants such as vitamin C are preservatives by inhibiting the degradation of food by oxygen.
- Bulking agents
- Bulking agents such as starch are additives that increase the bulk of a food without affecting its taste.
- Food coloring
- Colorings are added to food to replace colors lost during preparation or to make food look more attractive.
- Fortifying agents
- Vitamins, minerals, and dietary supplements to increase the nutritional value
- Color retention agents
- In contrast to colorings, color retention agents are used to preserve a food's existing color.
- Emulsifiers
- Emulsifiers allow water and oils to remain mixed together in an emulsion, as in mayonnaise, ice cream, and homogenized milk.
- Flavorings*
- Flavorings are additives that give food a particular taste or smell, and may be derived from natural ingredients or created artificially.
- *In EU, flavorings do not have an E-code and they are not considered as food additives.
- Flavor enhancers
- Flavor enhancers enhance a food's existing flavors. A popular example is monosodium glutamate. Some flavor enhancers have their own flavors that are independent of the food.
- Flour treatment agents
- .
- Glazing agents
- Glazing agents provide a shiny appearance or protective coating to foods.
- Humectants
- Humectants prevent foods from drying out.
- Tracer gas
- Tracer gasallows for package integrity testing to prevent foods from being exposed to atmosphere, thus guaranteeing shelf life.
- 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
- tooth decay, or diarrhea.
- Thickeners
- Thickening agents are substances which, when added to the mixture, increase its viscosity without substantially modifying its other properties.
- Packaging
- nitrates and food coloring, as they might harm children during development.[6]
Safety and regulation
With the increasing use of processed foods since the 19th century, food additives are more widely used. Many countries regulate their use. For example,
In 2007, Food Standards Australia New Zealand published an official shoppers' guidance with which the concerns of food additives and their labeling are mediated.[14] In the EU it can take 10 years or more to obtain approval for a new food additive. This includes five years of safety testing, followed by two years for evaluation by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and another three years before the additive receives an EU-wide approval for use in every country in the European Union.[15] Apart from testing and analyzing food products during the whole production process to ensure safety and compliance with regulatory standards, Trading Standards officers (in the UK) protect the public from any illegal use or potentially dangerous mis-use of food additives by performing random testing of food products.[16]
There has been significant controversy associated with the risks and benefits of food additives.[17] Natural additives may be similarly harmful or be the cause of allergic reactions in certain individuals. For example, safrole was used to flavor root beer until it was shown to be carcinogenic. Due to the application of the Delaney clause, it may not be added to foods, even though it occurs naturally in sassafras and sweet basil.[18]
Hyperactivity
Periodically, concerns have been expressed about a linkage between additives and
Toxicity
In 2012, the EFSA proposed the tier approach to evaluate the potential toxicity of food additives. It is based on four dimensions: toxicokinetics (absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion);
Micronutrients
A subset of food additives,
Approval in the United States
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) defines a food additive as "any substance the intended use of which results or may reasonably be expected to result directly or indirectly in its becoming a component or otherwise affecting the characteristics of any food".[28] In order for a novel food additive to be approved in the U.S., a food additive approval petition (FAP) must be submitted to the FDA.[29] The identity of the ingredient, the proposed use in the food system, the technical effect of the ingredient, a method of analysis for the ingredient in foods, information on the manufacturing process, and full safety reports must be defined in a FAP.[30] For FDA approval of a FAP, the FDA evaluates the chemical composition of the ingredient, the quantities that would be typically consumed, acute and chronic health impacts, and other safety factors.[28] The FDA reviews the petition prior to market approval of the additive.[citation needed]
Standardization of its derived products
ISO has published a series of standards regarding the topic and these standards are covered by ICS 67.220.[31]
See also
- Color retention agent
- Delaney clause
- Dietary supplement
- E number
- Food Chemicals Codex
- Food fortification
- Food industry
- Food processing
- Food supplements
- Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives
- List of food additives
- List of food additives, Codex Alimentarius
- List of food labeling regulations
- List of phytochemicals in food
- Organic fertilizer
- Pink slime
- Processing aid
- Smoking
- Sugar substitute
References
- ^ a b "Food Additives & Ingredients - Overview of Food Ingredients, Additives & Colors". FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
- ^ "Food Ingredients and Packaging Terms". FDA. January 4, 2018. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
- ^ Codex Alimentarius. "Class Names and the International Numbering System for Food Additives.food additives" (PDF).
- ^ See also "Food Additives", Food and Drug Administration website
- ^ "Press release: Some Common Food Additives May Pose Health Risks to Children". American Academy of Pediatrics. July 23, 2018.
- ^ ISBN 0-8493-7913-X.
- ^ Rev. Lyman Abbott, ed. (1900). The Outlook (Vol. 65). Outlook Co. p. 403.
- PMID 4803324.
- PMID 363408.
- ISBN 1-4289-2437-X.
- PMID 8910956.
- PMID 12505296.
- ^ Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2007). "Choosing the Right Stuff - the official shoppers' guide to food additives and labels, kilojoules and fat content". Archived from the original on 14 May 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ "Loading..." www.understandingfoodadditives.org.
- ^ "Loading..." www.understandingfoodadditives.org.
- ^ Martin Downs, MPH (17 December 2008). "The Truth About 7 Common Food Additives". WebMD.
- ISBN 0-8247-9691-8.
- ^
McCann, D; Barrett, A; Cooper, A; Crumpler, D; Dalen, L; Grimshaw, K; Kitchin, E; Lok, K; et al. (2007). "Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial". Lancet. 370 (9598): 1560–7. S2CID 10654579.
- PMID 32110982.
- S2CID 244050800.
- PMID 25731162.
- S2CID 247866305.
- S2CID 153314897.
- PMID 24760975.
- ^ "Food processing: The advantages of processed foods". The European Food Information Council. 1 May 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2019.
- ^ a b Nutrition, Center for Food Safety and Applied (2020-02-20). "Overview of Food Ingredients, Additives & Colors". FDA.
- ISBN 9780429211027, retrieved 2021-10-13
- ^ Nutrition, Center for Food Safety and Applied (2021-09-17). "Guidance for Industry: Recommendations for Submission of Chemical and Technological Data for Direct Food Additive Petitions". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Retrieved 2021-09-29.
- ^ International Organization for Standardization. "67.220: Spices and condiments. Food additives". Retrieved 23 April 2009.
Additional sources
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (1991). Everything Added to Food in the United States. Boca Raton, Florida: C.K. Smoley (c/o CRC Press, Inc.).
- The Food Labelling Regulations (1984)
- Advanced Modular Science, Nelson, Food and Health, by John Adds, Erica Larkcom and Ruth Miller