Food Additives
Substances intentionally added to food to
improve colour, flavour, keeping quality,
nutritive value or physical
condition(texture)
© PDST Home Economics.
Classification of additives
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Colourings:
Preservatives:
Antioxidants:
Physical conditioning agents:
Flavourings:
Flavour Enhancers:
Sweeteners:
Nutritive additives:
E100-199
E200-299
E300-399
E400-E499
No E nos.
E 600-699
E900-999
No E nos
Colourings: E100-E199
Class
Examples
Use
Origin
Natural
Chlorophyll
(E140)
Carotene
Cochineal (E120)
Caramel
Tinned veg
Soft drinks
Red jelly
Brown sauce,
gravy
Plants
Carrots
Cactus insects
Heated carbs.Caramelisation
Synthetic
Artificial
Tartrazine Yellow (E120)
Red (E128)
Green (E142)
Amaranth purply-red
(E123)
Soft drinks
All made from
coal tar
Sausages
Sweets
Blackcurrant
products
Functions
•Improve
appearance of
food
•To replace
colour lost in
processing.
•To satisfy
consumer
expectations.
•To give colour
to food that
would be
colourless
Colourings are not permitted in fresh meat, fish, poultry, fruit, veg or baby
food.
Preservatives E200-E299
Classes
Examples
Use
Natural
Sugar
Salt
Vinegar
Alcohol
Smoke
Jam, sweets
Bacon, pickles
Pickles, chutney
Fruit, cake
Fish, meat, cheese
Artifical
Sulphur
dioxide
(E220)
Sausages, fruit
juice, dried fruit &
veg.
Soft fruit, fruit
yoghurt, processed
cheese.
Citrus fruit, bananas
Sorbic
acid
(E200)
Diphenyl
Not permitted in baby foods
Origins
Beet/cane
Rock, sea
Fermentation
Fermentation
Burning wood
Made in labs
Functions
•Prevents
spoilage by
preventing
microbial
growth.
•Extend shelf
life.
•Prevents
food
poisoning.
•Reduces
waste.
•Greater
variety foods
available
Antioxidants E300-399
Classes
Natural
Artificial
Examples
Use
Ascorbic acid
Tocopherol
(E306)
Fruit drinks
BHA (E320)
Stock cubes,
cheese spread
Chewing gum
BHT (E321)
Origins
Functions
Fruit & veg.
Nuts & seeds
Prevents
oxidation
where food is
spoiled by
reacting with
oxygen
Vegetable oils
BHA and BHT not permitted in baby food
Made in lab
Physical Conditioning agents E400-499
Classes
Emusifiers
Examples
Lecithin
Alginates
E401-404
Use
Origin
Function
Mayonnaise
Hollandaise
Ice cream
Eggs, soya
beans
Sea weed
To make
permanent
emulsions
Stabilisers
Carageen
Guar gum
E412
Ice cream
Confectionary
Sea weed
Guar plant
To stabilise
emulsions by
thickening them
Polyphosphates
Magnesium
carbonate
Salt- as anticaking agent,
Cake mixes
Lab
To prevent lumping
Jams / jellies
fruit cell walls To set mixtures
Confectionary
and sweets
Cakes/ buns
Lichen
Pectin E440
Humectants
Sweetners
sorbital and
mannitol
They absorb water
vapour from air
and keep foods
moist
Flavourings (No E numbers)
Classes
Examples
Use
Origin
Natural
Sugar
Jam, tinned
beans, cereals.
Cheese, butter,
convenience fds
Meat products,
sauces, stock
cubes
Cane, beet,
fruit
Sodium
chloride
Rock or sea
Root, seeds
and leaves of
plants
Ethyl acetate
Amyl acetate
Benzaldehyde
Maltol
Rum flavour
Pear flavour
Cherry flavour
Fresh baked
smell
Chemical rxn.
heating acetic
acid and ethyl
alcohol
Tree Bark
Monosodium
Glutamate
E621
Chinese food,
soup, sauces,
stock cubes
Glutamic acid
an amino acid
Salt
Spices
Herbs
Artificial
Flavour
Enhancers
E600-699
Functions
•To add
flavour to
food
•To replace
flavour lost
in
processing.
•To enhance
food flavour
Sweeteners E900-E999
Class
Natural
Examples
Fructose
Sucrose
Bulk
Sweetners
Origin
Tinned peas
Biscuits,
sweets,
tinned fruit
Tinned fruit,
jelly
Fruit
Sugar beet &
sugar cane
Aspartame
E951
“Nutrasweet,
Canderel”
Saccharine
E954
‘Hermesetes’
Diet drinks
Sweetener
Dipeptide
(aspartic acid+
phenyalanine)
Diet drinks
Sweetener
Coal tar
Sorbitol
Diabetic food,
sugar free
food
Sugar free
gum, ice cream
Lichens
Glucose
syrup
Artificial
Use
Mannitol
E965
Functions
To sweeten
food
Fruit & honey
Lichens
Used in low
calorie /
diabetic
food &
drinks
Sorbitol used
in diabetic
food as it does
not need
insulin
Nutritive additives
• Nutritive additives are nutrients added to food
during manufacture
• The foods are then called fortified foods.
Functions
Replace nutrients lost in processing e.g. flour skimmed
milk
To increase nutritional value e.g. breakfast cereal
To increase sales e.g. fruit juice
To imitate another food e.g. butter/marg, meat /TVP
Advantages of additives
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Increase shelf life – preservatives
Reduce risk of food poisoning – preservatives
Prevent waste – preservatives
Make food more appetising – colouring
Improve taste – flavouring
Improve texture – physical conditioning agents
Increase nutritive value
Provide wider variety of foods
Ensure consistency of quality
Disadvantages of additives
• Allergies: migraine, hyperactivity, rashes e.g.tartrazine
• Little known about cumulative or combined effect of
additives.
• Bulking agents can deceive consumers
• Some additives destroy nutrients e.g.sulphur dioxide
destroys vit. B
• Sweetners can leave bitter aftertaste e.g. saccharine
Legal Control over use of
additives in EU
• List of approved additives
• Approved additives have been well tested
• In EU every approved additive has E number (except
flavourings)
• The E no. or name must be on labels
• Additives should not reduce nutritive value
• Cannot be used to disguise faults
• Must not be health hazard
• Must not mislead consumer
Legal Control over use of
additives in EU
• Must be used in smallest possible effective quantity
• Colourings not allowed in fresh fruit, veg. meat,
poultry, fish
• Preservatives and BHA, BHT and colourings not
allowed in baby food.
• Sweeteners not permitted in food for infants or
young children
Legal Control over use of
additives in EU
• Additives are tested by the European Scientific
Committee for Food (SCF)
• The SCF take advice from the World Health
Organisation (WHO) and the Joint Expert Committee
on Food Additives (JECFA)
• In Ireland the FSAI are responsible for enforcing
the safe use of food additives
Contaminants
• Substances that enter food unintentionally or
illegally at various stages of production which may
cause harm.
• Pesticides: used in agriculture to prevent damage to
crops. They include insecticides, herbicides,
fungicides. Run off can contaminate water supply.
• Antibiotics: used for animals and poultry to cure
diseases. Passed on to humans in milk or meat.
• Metals: from soil, water, containers cooking
equipment e.g. Lead, cadmium
Contaminants
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Plastic chemicals from packaging
Formaldehyde from treated paper packaging
Foreign bodies; hair, glass, wire etc..
Other Chemicals: growth promoters, carcinogens
from smoking and barbecuing, dioxins from burning
hydrocarbons
• Micro-organisms
Effects of Contaminants
Pesticides
Respiratory problems. Heart and circulatory
problems. Damage to nervous system. Cancer.
Antibiotics
Build up resistance to antibiotics. Allergies
develop.
Metals
Stomach cramps. Damage to liver, kidneys,
immune system, nervous system.
Dioxins
Cancer.
Contaminants
• Department of agriculture and food are responsible
for production of safe food.
• Samples are testing and comparisons made with EU
max permitted levels.
• People opt for organically grown food to avoid these
contaminants.