Food Additives - Are They Safe?

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Although salt, baking soda, vanilla and yeast are commonly used in foods today, many people tend to think of any additive added to foods as complex chemical compounds. Most food additives are regulated by federal authorities and various international organizations. The purpose of this page is to provide helpful background information about food additives, why they are used in foods and how regulations govern their safe use in the food supply.

What are food additives used for?

There are some good reasons for the use of food additives; especially naturally-derived additives. They can be used to:

• Improve the taste or appearance of a processed food. For example, beeswax - glazing agent (901) is used to coat apples to improve their appearance.
• Improve the keeping quality or stability of a food. For example, sorbitol - humectant (420) - may be added to mixed dried fruit to maintain the moisture level and softness of the fruit.
• Preserve food when this is the most practical way of extending its storage life. For example, sulphur dioxide - preservative (220) - is added to some meat products such as sausage meat to prevent microbial growth.

With the help of our food additive list, you can look up various additives to find out what they are, what they do and whether they are safe!

What do food additives do?

Some food additives have more than one use. Food additives are often listed according to their functional or class names. Examples of the most common functions are:

• Acids / Acidity regulators / Alkalis help to maintain a constant acid level in food.   This is important for taste, as well as to influence how other substances in the food function.   For example, an acidified food can retard the growth of some micro-organisms.
• Anti-caking agents reduce the tendency of individual food particles to adhere and improve flow characteristics.   For example, seasoning with an added anti-caking agent flows freely and doesn't clump together.
• Antioxidants retard or prevent the oxidative deterioration of foods.   For example, in fats and oils, rancid flavors can develop when they are exposed to oxygen.   Antioxidants prevent this from happening.
• Bulking agents contribute to the volume of the food, without contributing significantly to its available energy.   For example, sugar often contributes to the volume of lollipops, while some low-joule foods need bulking agents added to them to replace the bulk normally provided by sugar.
• Colorings add or restore color to foods.   For example, icing mixture is colored to make it more attractive on cakes.
• Emulsifiers facilitate or maintain oil and water from separating into layers.   For example, emulsifiers may be used in margarine to prevent oil forming a layer on top of the margarine.
• Firming agents / Stabilizers maintain the uniform dispersion of substances in solid and semi-solid foods.
• Flavor enhancers enhance the existing taste and/or odor of a food.
• Foaming agents maintain the uniform dispersion of gases in aerated foods.
• Gelling agents modify the texture of the food through gel formation.
• Glazing agents impart a coating to the external surface of the food, for example a wax coating on fruit to improve its appearance.
• Humectants reduce moisture loss in foods.   For example, glycerine may be added to icing to prevent it from drying out.
• Preservatives retard or prevent the deterioration of food by micro-organisms, and thus prevent spoilage of foods.
• Raising agents liberate gases, thereby increasing the volume of a food.   Raising agents are often used in baked goods.
• Sweeteners replace the sweetness normal provided by sugars in foods without contributing significantly to their available energy.
• Thickeners increase the viscosity of a food.   For example, a sauce might contain a thickener to give it the desired consistency.

• The benefits of food additives
• The disadvantages and health problems - Lists of clearly UNSAFE food additives
• Specific additives:
  • Antioxidants
  • Artificial Fats -- Fat Substitutes
  • Caffeine
  • Olestra
  • Flavored Vinegars
  • Food Coloring
  • Hormones and Meat
  • Kefir
  • Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
  • Nitrates/Nitrites
  • Saccharin
  • Salicylates
  • Salt Substitutes
  • Sulfites in Foods
     

Food Additives to Avoid

The additive is unsafe in the amounts consumed or there is very little testing conducted yet.

• ACESULFAME POTASSIUM
• ARTIFICIAL COLORINGS
  • BLUE 1
  • BLUE 2
  • GREEN 3
  • RED 3
  • YELLOW 6
• CYCLAMATE
• HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL
• OLESTRA (Olean)
• PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL
• POTASSIUM BROMATE
• PROPYL GALLATE
• SACCHARIN
• SODIUM NITRITE, SODIUM NITRATE
• STEVIA

Database of Food Additive  regulations and Information: This is an informational database maintained by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) under an ongoing program known as the Priority-based Assessment of Food Additives (PAFA). It contains administrative, chemical and toxicological information on over 2000 substances directly added to food, including substances regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as direct, "secondary" direct, and color additives, and Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) and prior-sanctioned substances. In addition, the database contains only administrative and chemical information on less than 1000 such substances. The more than 3000 total substances together comprise an inventory often referred to as "Everything" Added to Food in the United States (EAFUS).

This list of substances contains ingredients added directly to food that FDA has either approved as food additives or listed or affirmed as GRAS. Nevertheless, it contains only a partial list of all food ingredients that may in fact be lawfully added to food, because under federal law some ingredients may be added to food under a GRAS determination made independently from the FDA. The list contains many, but not all, of the substances subject to independent GRAS determinations.

This page was updated on 19-Jan-2007