CH-5, “Food Additives” (Marks – 14)

Content

5.1 Food Additives: Introduction, Role and amount to be added of additives - Antioxidants,
Coloring and Flavoring agents, Chelating agents, Curing agents, Stabilizers and Thickeners,
Emulsifiers, Flour Improvers.
5.2 Humectants, Anticaking agents, Leavening Agents, Nonnutritive sweeteners, Preservatives
such as sulphur dioxide and benzoic acid, Buffering agents.

Unit Outcomes (UOs)

5a. Select the relevant food additives for the specified processed food.
5b.Describe properties of the specified type of additives.
5c.Select relevant preservative for the specified food processing.
5d. Select the relevant type of agent for the process the given type of food.

Introduction
• Additives :
• A substance added to food in small quantities to improve quality or improve it.
• Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavor or enhance its taste,
appearance, or other qualities.
• Food additives are substances added to food to food in small quantities to improve its
functional properties, freshness, sensory and nutritional quantities in the food.
• It also include substances that may be introduced to food directly or indirectly in the
manufacturing process through packaging, during storage and transport.
• Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling
(with vinegar), salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as with
wines.
• With the advent of processed foods in the second half of the twentieth century, many
more additives have been introduced, of both natural and artificial origin.
• Food additives also include substances that may be introduced to food indirectly (called
"indirect additives") in the manufacturing process, through packaging, or during storage
or transport.

Need of Food Additives

• Following are the various important needs of food additives are –

• 1. Food additives improve the quality or self life of a food.
• 2. To improve the keeping quality of a food.
• For example – Preventing microbial spoilage of food.
• 3. To maintain the nutritional quality of a food.
• For example – by avoiding degradation of vitamins, essential amino scids and saturated
fats.
• 4.To provide ingredients for consumers with specific nutritional requirements.
• 5.To improve the texture, taste and colour of the food.

Classification of Food Additives

• Over 3000 different chemicals compounds are used as food additives.
• They are categorized in to different groups. A few types of additives are indicated below.
Part – I
• 1. Antioxidants,
• 2. Coloring and Flavoring agents,
• 3. Chelating agents,
• 4. Curing agents,
• 5. Stabilizers and Thickeners,
• 6. Emulsifiers,
• 7. Flour Improvers.
Part - II
• 1. Humectants
• 2. Anti-Caking agents
• 3. Leavening agents
• 4. Non-nutritive Sweeteners.
Part – III
• 1. Buffering agents.
Part – IV
• 1. Preservative such as –
• a) Sulphur dioxide
• b) Benzoic acid.
Antioxidants
• Antioxidants are important additives in food processing.
• Antioxidants are a compound that prevents oxidation process.
• It is a substances added to fats and fat-containing substances to hold oxidation process.
• Anti-oxidant should not contribute an objectionable odour, flavor, colour to the facts and
to the food.
• Antioxidants are preventing the development of oxidative in fat based foods particularly
meat and dairy products.
• Antioxidants are compounds that inhibit oxidation.
• Oxidation is a chemical reaction that can produce free radicals, thereby leading to chain
reactions that may damage the cells of organisms.
• Antioxidants such as thiols or ascorbic acid (vitamin C) terminate these chain reactions.
• To balance the oxidative stress, plants and animals maintain complex systems of
overlapping antioxidants, such as glutathione and enzymes (e.g., catalase and superoxide
dismutase), produced internally, or the dietary antioxidants vitamin C and vitamin E.
• The term "antioxidant" is mostly used for two entirely different groups of substances:
industrial chemicals that are added to products to prevent oxidation, and naturally
occurring compounds that are present in foods and tissue.
• The former, industrial antioxidants, have diverse uses: acting as preservatives in food and
cosmetics, and being oxidation-inhibitors in fuels.
• Antioxidant dietary supplements have not been shown to improve health in humans, or to
be effective at preventing disease.
• Supplements of beta-carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E have no positive effect on
mortality rate or cancer risk.
• Additionally, supplementation with selenium or vitamin E does not reduce the risk of
cardiovascular disease.

• Examples of antioxidants are –

• 1. Vitamins C, 2.Vitamins E, 3.Selenium, 4. Carotenoids, 5. Butylated hydroxyanisole
(BHA), 6. Propyl gallate (PG), 7.Thiodipropionic acid, 8.Ascorbic acid etc.

Colouring agents or Colour additive

• Colouring agents, is any dye, pigment or substance that imparts color when it is added to
food or drink.
• They come in many forms consisting of liquids, powders, gels, and pastes.
• Food coloring is used both in commercial food production and in domestic cooking. Food
colorants are also used in a variety of non-food applications including cosmetics,
pharmaceuticals, home craft projects, and medical devices.

• Purpose of food coloring:

• People associate certain colors with certain flavors, and the color of food can influence
the perceived flavor in anything from candy to wine.
• Sometimes the aim is to simulate a color that is perceived by the consumer as natural,
such as adding red coloring to glacé cherries (which would otherwise be beige), but
sometimes it is for effect, like the green ketchup that Heinz launched in 1999.
• Color additives are used in foods for many reasons including:
• • To make food more attractive, appealing, appetizing, and informative
• • Offset color loss due to exposure to light, air, temperature extremes, moisture and
storage conditions
• • Correct natural variations in color
• • Enhance colors that occur naturally
• • Provide color to colorless and "fun" foods
• • Allow consumers to identify products on sight, like candy flavors or medicine dosages
• Many colour additives are natural pigments or dyes.
• e.g – Spinach juice or grass, marigold flower, cochineal used to obtain green, yellow and
red colour respectively.
• Synthetic dyes obtained from coal tar.
• Many of natural food colours extracted from seeds, flowers, insects and foods are also
used as food additives.

Flavoring Agents

• Flavor – Alter or enhance the taste of food or drink by adding a particular ingredient.
• Flavours are used as additives to enhance, modify the taste and the aroma in natural food
products which could have got lost due to food processing.
• Flavouring agents are key food additives which are used to increase the taste of food
products.
• Flavouring agents include-
• Essential oils, Ester of aliphatic and aromatic alcohols with fatty acids, Alcohols,
Aldehydes, Ketones, Lactones
• Phenols
• Phenolic ethers and
• Aliphatic acid.
• Natural flavor substances from spices, herbs and roots are very uneconomical as the yield
is extremely low therefore synthetic flavor additives are in use.
• Some of the synthetic flavours are amyl acetate for banana methyl anthranilate for grapes
ethyl butyrate for pineapple etc.
• Mono-sodium glutamic (MSG), the sodium salt of giutamic acid extracted from sea
weeds and soyabean has been use in the Chinese and Japanese cooking.
• There are more than 2000 approved natural and synthetic flavours in food industries.
• Flavorings are focused on altering the flavors of natural food product such as meats and
vegetables, or creating flavor for food products that do not have the desired flavors such
as candies and other snacks.
• Most types of flavorings are focused on scent and taste. Few commercial products exist
to stimulate the trigeminal senses, since these are sharp, astringent, and typically
unpleasant flavors.

Flavoring Agents

• Three principal types of flavorings are used in foods are-

• Natural flavoring substances
• These flavoring substances are obtained from plant or animal raw materials, by physical,
microbiological, or enzymatic processes.
• They can be either used in their natural state or processed for human consumption, but
cannot contain any nature-identical or artificial flavoring substances.

• Nature-identical flavoring substances

• These are obtained by synthesis or isolated through chemical processes, which are
chemically and organoleptically identical to flavoring substances naturally present in
products intended for human consumption.
• They cannot contain any artificial flavoring substances.

• Artificial flavoring substances

• These are not identified in a natural product intended for human consumption, whether or
not the product is processed.
• These are typically produced by fractional distillation and additional chemical
manipulation of naturally sourced chemicals, crude oil, or coal tar.
• Although they are chemically different, in sensory characteristics they are the same as
natural ones.
• Most artificial flavors are specific and often complex mixtures of singular naturally
occurring flavor compounds combined together to either imitate or enhance a natural
flavor.
• These mixtures are formulated by flavorists to give a food product a unique flavor and to
maintain flavor consistency between different product batches or after recipe changes.
• The list of known flavoring agents includes thousands of molecular compounds, and the
flavor chemist (flavorist) can often mix these together to produce many of the common
flavors.
• Many flavorants consist of esters, which are often described as being "sweet" or "fruity".

Stabilizers and Thickeners

• Stabilizers:
• A stabilizers is a chemical that used to prevent degradation of food.
• In industrial chemistry, a stabilizer is a chemical that is used to prevent degradation.
• Heat and light stabilizers are added to plastics and elastomers because they ensure safe
processing and protect products against aging and weathering.
• The trend is towards fluid systems, pellets, and increased use of masterbatches.
• There are monofunctional, bifunctional, and polyfunctional stabilizers.
• In economic terms the most important product groups on the market for stabilizers are
compounds based on calcium (calcium-zinc and organo-calcium), lead, and tin stabilizers
as well as liquid and light stabilizers (HALS, benzophenone, benzotriazole).
• Cadmium-based stabilizers largely vanished in the last years due to health and
environmental concerns.
• Thickeners:
• A thickening agent or thickener is a substance which can increase the viscosity of a liquid
without substantially changing its other properties.
• Edible thickeners are commonly used to thicken sauces, soups, and puddings without
altering their taste.
• Thickeners are also used in paints, inks, explosives, and cosmetics products.
• Thickeners may also improve the suspension of other ingredients or emulsions which
increases the stability of the product.
• Thickening agents are often regulated as food additives and as cosmetics and personal
hygiene product ingredients.
• Some thickening agents are gelling agents (gellants), forming a gel, dissolving in the
liquid phase as a colloid mixture that forms a weakly cohesive internal structure.
• Others act as mechanical thixotropic additives with discrete particles adhering or
interlocking to resist strain.
• Thickening agents can also be used when a medical condition such as dysphagia causes
difficulty in swallowing.
• Thickened liquids play a vital role in reducing risk of aspiration for dysphagia patients.

• Stabilizers and thickeners helps –

• -To improve and stabilize the texture of foods
• -Inhibits crystallization (Sugar, ice) stabilize emulsions and foams.
• -Reduce the stickiness of icings on baked products and encapsulate flavours.
• Substances used as stabilizers and thickeners are –
• 1.Polysaccharides such as gum Arabic, guar gum, agar-agar, alginic acids, starch and its
derivative, pectin and carboxy methylcelluloses.
• 2.The non-carbohydrate material gelatin.
• -They are hydrophilic and are dispersed in solution as collids.
• -This swell in hot or even cold water and help thicken food.
• Gravies, pie fillings, cake toppings, chocolate milk drinks, jellies, puddings stabilizers
and thickeners for approved teture.

Emulsifiers
• An emulsifier (also known as an "emulgent") is a substance that stabilizes an emulsion by
increasing its kinetic stability.
• One class of emulsifiers is known as "surface active agents", or surfactants.
• Emulsifiers are compounds that typically have a polar or hydrophilic (i.e. water-soluble)
part and a non-polar (i.e. hydrophobic or lipophilic) part.
• Because of this, emulsifiers tend to have more or less solubility either in water or in oil.
 • Emulsifiers that are more soluble in water (and conversely, less soluble in oil) will
generally form oil-in-water emulsions, while emulsifiers that are more soluble in oil will
form water-in-oil emulsions.
• An emulsifying agent is generally a long chain organic compound and often acts as a
surface-active agent or wetting- agent and reduce surface tension of the water phase to
form stable emulsions.
• Lecithin, one of the most widely used emulsifiers is found in milk, egg and soyabean.
• Different types of emulsifiers are esters of fatty acids from animal or vegetable origin.
• Polyvalent alcohols, such as glycerol, propylene glycerol, propylene glycol, sorbitol,
sucrose etc.
• These ester may be further esterified with organic acids such as lactic, tartaric, citric acid
etc.

The surface active agents used as emulsifiers are –

• 1. Spans fatty acids esters of sorbitans
• 2. Tweens fatty acid esters of sorbitans cambined with polyoxyethylene.
• 3. Myrjs-fatty acids esterified with polyoxyethylene.

Specific applications of food emulsifiers are listed below

Sr. No. Emulsifier Application in food industry

1 GMS Ice cream, bread, potato products and shack foods.

(Glyceryl Monostearate)
2 DATE As foam stabilizer in foam mat drying of tomato
(Diacetyl tartaric acid esters of juice, orange juice, tea concentrate etc. in baking
monoglycerides) industry asa dough conditioning agent.
3 Span 60 (Sorbitan monostearate) To impact desirable structure.
4 Span 80 To frozen ice-cream, i.e stand-up properties to
(Sorbitan monooleate) enable extending in to shapes.
5 Succinylated monoglycerides In baking industry as a dough conditioner and bread
softener.
6 CLS (Calcium stearoyl lactoyl As whipping agent in egg white and dehydrated
lactate) potatoes.

7 SSL (Sodium stearoyl lactoyl As dough conditioners and antistaling agents in

lactate) baking industry

8 Polyglycerol esters propylene As additives to improve cake quality.

glycol monoesters.
9 Lecithin In the preparation of Cocoa-butter and chocolate
candy, to improve the texture of bread and
fermented products.
Examples of food emulsifiers are

• Egg yolk – in which the main emulsifying agent is lecithin. In fact, lecithos is the Greek
word for egg yolk.
• Mustard – where a variety of chemicals in the mucilage surrounding the seed hull act as
emulsifiers
• Soy lecithin is another emulsifier and thickener
• Pickering stabilization – uses particles under certain circumstances
• Sodium phosphates
• Mono- and diglycerides - a common emulsifier found in many food products (coffee
creamers, ice-creams, spreads, breads, cakes)
• Sodium stearoyllactylate
• DATEM (diacetyl tartaric acid esters of mono- and diglycerides) – an emulsifier used
primarily in baking
• Simple cellulose – a particulate emulsifier derived from plant material using only water

Flour Improvers
• Flour improvers are bleaching and maturing agents.
• Usually they both bleach and mature the flour.
• These are important in the flour milling and bread-baking industries.
• Flour improvers are food additives combined (mix) with flour to improve the baking
functionality.
• Flour improver agents are used to increase the speed of dough rising and to improve the
strength and workability of the dough.
• They are an important component of modern baking factory.

There are wide ranges of these conditioners are used in baking factory, which four main
categories –
• 1. Bleaching agents
• 2. Oxidizing agents
• 3. Reducing agents
• 4. Enzymes.
• Bleaching agents are added to flour to make it appear whiter (freshly milled flour is
yellowish).
• Oxidizing agents are added to flour to help with gluten development.
• Gluten development means to form the elastic texture of dough.

Common oxidizing agents are –

• 1. Ascorbic acid.
• 2. Potassium bromate
 • 3. Potassium iodate.
• Reducing agents help to weaken the flour by breaking the protein network.

Common reducing agents are –

• 1. Fumaric acid
• 2. Sodium bisulfite
• 3. Non-leavening yeast.
• Enzymes are used to improve the processing characteristics.

Additives may be used as a source of enzymes are-

• 1. Carbamide (also known as Urea)
• 2. Phosphates
• 3. Malted barley.
• Flour treatment agents (also called improving agents, bread improvers and dough
improvers) are food additives combined with flour to improve baking functionality.
• Flour treatment agents are used to increase the speed of dough rising and to improve the
strength and workability of the dough.
• While they are an important component of modern factory baking, some small-scale
bakers reject them in favour of longer fermentation periods that produce greater depth of
flavour.
• There are wide ranges of these conditioners used in factory baking, which fall into four
main categories: bleaching agents, oxidizing and reducing agents, enzymes, and
emulsifiers.
• These agents are often sold as mixtures in a soy flour base, as only small amounts are
required.
• Flour bleaching agents are added to flour to make it appear whiter (freshly milled flour is
yellowish), to oxidize the surfaces of the flour grains, and help with developing of gluten.
• Oxidizing agents are added to flour to help with gluten development.
• They may or may not also act as bleaching agents. Originally flour was naturally aged
through exposure to the atmosphere.
• Oxidizing agents primarily affect sulfur-containing amino acids, ultimately helping to
form disulfide bridges between the gluten molecules.
• The addition of these agents to flour will create stronger dough.

Chelating Agents

• Chelating agents are food additives that prevent oxidation and increase shelf life of
baked products.
• Chelating agents are chemical compounds that react with metal ions to form a stable,
water-soluble complex.
• They are also known as chelants, chelators or sequestering agents.
 • Chemically, chelating agents are organic compounds with a ring-like center which
forms at least two bonds with the mineral ion to produce complex structures, referred to
as chelates.

Examples of chelating agents include:

• Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)
• Polyphosphates
• Organic acids such as citric or tartaric.

Two key characteristics are essential for chelating agents’ functionality:

• The presence of two different binding sites for the metal it chelates.
• Ability to coordinate with the metal ion to achieve a ring formation.

• Metals such as calcium, zinc, iron, copper and many others can interact with
components of food systems or can act as cofactors for enzymatic activity.
• By binding metals, chelating agents can delay/retard these activities, thus preserving the
functional and sensory properties of food products.
• Some chelating agents can also act as effective antioxidants.
• For example, EDTA is the most universally known chelating agent.
• Several salts of EDTA are produced mainly calcium disodium EDTA, disodium
EDTA, tetrasodium EDTA, etc.

• Application:
• Chelating agents are used in a wide range of food products and are FDA-approved
additives in:
• Canned products, carbonated beverages, Mayonnaise, Baking mixes
• Salad dressings, Shortening, Potato products, Pickled vegetables

Curing Agents

• Curing (Meaning) - preserve (meat, fish, tobacco, or an animal skin) by salting, drying,
or smoking.
• Curing is the addition to meats of some combination of salt, sugar, nitrite and/or nitrate
for the purposes of preservation, flavor and color.
• Some publications distinguish the use of salt alone as salting, corning or salt curingand
reserve the word curing for the use of salt with nitrates/nitrites.
• The cure ingredients can be rubbed on to the food surface, mixed into foods dry (dry
curing), or dissolved in water (brine, wet, or pickle curing).
• In the latter processes, the food is submerged in the brine until completely covered. With
large cuts of meat, brine may also be injected into the muscle.
 • The term pickle in curing has been used to mean any brine solution or a brine cure
solution that has sugar added.
• Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat,
fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt.
• The aim of curing process is to remove the moisture from the food by the process of
osmosis. Because curing increases the solute concentration in the food and hence
decreases its water potential, the food becomes inhospitable for the microbe growth that
causes food spoilage.
• Curing can be traced back to antiquity, and was the primary method of preserving meat
and fish until the late-19th century.
• Dehydration was the earliest form of food curing.
• Many curing processes also involve smoking, spicing, cooking, or the addition of
combinations of sugar, nitrate, and nitrite.
• Curing agents are additives to preserve (cure) meats give them desired colour and flavor,
prevent growth of micro-organisms and also prevent toxin formation.

Some important curing agents include :

• 1. Sodium nitrite – Used as a preservative and colour stabilizer in meat and fish products.
• 2. Isoascorbate – Used to prevent spoilage and toxin production.
• 3.Ascorbates
• 4.Phosphates
• 5. Polyphosphates such as tripolyphosphate (Na5P3O10) and sodium exametaphosphate.

• Meat preservation in general (of meat from livestock, game, and poultry) comprises the
set of all treatment processes for preserving the properties, taste, texture, and color of
raw, partially cooked, or cooked meats while keeping them edible and safe to consume.
• Curing has been the dominant method of meat preservation for thousands of years,
although modern developments like refrigeration and synthetic preservatives have begun
to complement and supplant it.
• While meat-preservation processes like curing were mainly developed in order to prevent
disease and to increase food security, the advent of modern preservation methods mean
that in most developed countries today curing is instead mainly practised for its cultural
value and desirable impact on the texture and taste of food.
• For lesser-developed countries, curing remains a key process in the production, transport
and availability of meat.
• Curing salt, also known as "Prague powder" or "pink salt", is typically a combination of
sodium chloride and sodium nitrite that is dyed pink to distinguish it from table salt.
• Some traditional cured meat (such as authentic Parma ham and some authentic Spanish
chorizo and Italian salami are cured with salt alone.
 • Today, potassium nitrate and sodium nitrite (in conjunction with salt) are the most
common agents in curing meat, because they bond to the myoglobin and act as a
substitute for the oxygen, thus turning myoglobin red
• . More recent evidence shows that these chemicals also inhibit the growth of the bacteria
that cause the disease botulism.
• The combination of table salt with nitrates or nitrites, called curing salt, is often dyed
pink to distinguish it from table salt.
• Neither table salt, nor any of the nitrites or nitrates commonly used in curing (e.g. sodium
nitrate, sodium nitrite, and potassium nitrate) is naturally pink.

Other Food Additives

• Humectants
• Anticaking agents
• Leavening Agents
• Nonnutritive sweeteners
• Preservatives such as sulphur dioxide and benzoic acid
• Buffering agents

Humectants

• Humectants are a substance or food additives, used to reduce the loss of moisture and
bind the water.
• Water activity reduction achieved by adding humectants to food enhances stability,
maintains texture and reduces microbial activity.
• Humectants are moisture retention agents.

Their functions in foods include –

• 1. Control of viscosity and texture
• 2. Bulking
• 3. Retention of moisture
• 4. Reduction of water activity
• 5. Control of crystallization and
• 6. Improvement or retention of softness.

• They also help to improve the rehydration of dehydrated food and solubilization of flavor
compounds.
• Humectants are generally polyhydric alcohols that are carbohydrate derivatives and are
used to retain moisture in foods.
• Propylene glycol, glycerol, sorbitol and mannitol are hygrocopic material and act as
humectants in food such as shredded coconut, jeiiy crystals and confectionery products.
 • Some humectants exist naturally like glycerol in pears, apples and prunes.
• A humectant is a hygroscopic substance used to keep things moist. It is often a molecule
with several hydrophilic groups, most often hydroxyl groups; however, amines and
carboxyl groups, sometimes esterified, can be encountered as well (its affinity to form
hydrogen bonds with molecules of water is the crucial trait).
• They are used in many products, including food, cosmetics, medicines and pesticides.
• A humectant attracts and retains the moisture in the air nearby via absorption, drawing
the water vapor into or beneath the organism's or object's surface.
• This is the opposite use of a hygroscopic material where it is used as a desiccant used to
draw moisture away.
• When used as a food additive, a humectant has the effect of keeping moisture in the food.
• Humectants are sometimes used as a component of antistatic coatings for plastics.
• In pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, humectants can be used in topical dosage forms to
increase the solubility of a chemical compound's active ingredients, increasing the active
ingredients' ability to penetrate skin, or its activity time.
• This hydrating property can also be needed to counteract a dehydrating active ingredient
(e.g., soaps, corticoids, and some alcohols), which is why humectants are common
ingredients in a wide range of cosmetic and personal care products that make
moisturization claims (e.g., hair conditioners, body lotions, face or body cleansers, lip
balms, and eye creams).

Examples of some humectants include:

• Propylene glycol, hexylene glycol, and butylene glycol
• Aloe vera gel
• Alpha hydroxy acids such as lactic acid
• Egg yolk and egg white
• Glyceryl triacetate
• Honey
• Lithium chloride
• Molasses
• Polymeric polyols such as polydextrose
• Quillaia
• Sodium hexametaphosphate E452i
• Sugar alcohols (sugar polyols) such as glycerol, sorbitol, xylitol, maltitol
• Urea
• Castor oil

Uses of humectants -
• A humectant is a substance that is used to keep products moisturized and affects the
preservation of items, which can be used in cosmetic products, food and tobacco.
 • A humectant-rich formulation contains simple alcoholic sugar that can increase skin
hydration and helps to remove and reduce thickness of skin.

Anticaking Agents
• Caking – (A thick or sticky substance) dry or harden in to a solid mass.
• An anticaking agent is an additive placed in powdered or granulated materials, such as
table salt or confectioneries, to prevent the formation of lumps (caking).
• Caking mechanisms depend on the nature of the material.
• Crystalline solids often cake by formation of liquid bridge and subsequent fusion of
microcrystals.
• Amorphous materials can cake by glass transitions and changes in viscosity. Polymorphic
phase transitions can also induce caking.
• Anti-caking materials that absorb excess moisture or coat particles to impart a degree of
water repellency or impact an insoluble particulate diluent to the mixture and thus help to
prevent particles from adhering to each other and foaming lumps.
• Some anticaking agents function by absorbing excess moisture or by coating particles and
making them water-repellent.
• Calcium silicate (CaSiO3), a commonly used anti-caking agent, added to e.g. table salt,
absorbs both water and oil.
• Anticaking agents are also used in non-food items such as road salt, fertilisers, cosmetics,
synthetic detergents, and in manufacturing applications.
• Some studies suggest that anticaking agents may have a negative effect on the nutritional
content of food; one such study indicated that most anti-caking agents result in the
additional degradation of vitamin C added to food.

Examples
• An anticaking agent in salt is denoted in the ingredients, for example, as "anti-caking
agent (554)", which is sodium aluminosilicate.
• This product is present in many commercial table salts as well as dried milk, egg mixes,
sugar products, flours and spices.
• In Europe, sodium ferrocyanide (535) and potassium ferrocyanide (536) are more
common anticaking agents in table salt.
• "Natural" anticaking agents used in more expensive table salt include calcium carbonate
and magnesium carbonate.
 Anticaking Agents

List of Anticaking agents

• The most widely used anticaking agents include the stearates of calcium and magnesium,
silica and various silicates, talc, as well as flour and starch.
• Ferrocyanides are used for table salt.
• The following anticaking agents are listed in order by their number in the Codex
Alimentarius.
• 341 tricalcium phosphate
• 460(ii) powdered cellulose
• 470b magnesium stearate
• 500 sodium bicarbonate
• 535 sodium ferrocyanide
• 536 potassium ferrocyanide
• 538 calcium ferrocyanide
• 542 bone phosphate (i.e. Calcium phosphate)
• 550 sodium silicate
• 551 silicon dioxide
• 552 calcium silicate
• 553a magnesium trisilicate
• 553b talcum powder
• 554 sodium aluminosilicate
• 555 potassium aluminium silicate
• 556 calcium aluminosilicate
• 558 bentonite
• 559 aluminium silicate
• 570 stearic acid
• 900 polydimethylsiloxane

Leavening Agents
• Leavening agents is a substance causing expansion of doughs and batters by the release
of gases within such mixtures producing baked products with porous structure.
• Leavening agents can be biological or synthetic chemical compounds.
• Leavening agents are responsible for the light fluffy characteristics in baked products.
• Leavening is increasing the area of a dough or batter by creating in them, small bubbles
of gas mainly carbon dioxide (produced by yeast or chemical agents) air or water vapour.
• The most important chemical agent used in leavening is baking powder which generate
12-14 % of available carbon dioxide for leavening purpose.
• Baking powder consist of sodium bicarbonate and an acid component.
• A biological method of leavening is by yeast fermentation.
 • The growth and multiplication of yeast in the presence of sugars at PH 4-6 and at
temperature 30 0C, liberate carbon dioxide which leavens batters and doughs.
• A leaven, often called a leavening agent (and also known as a raising agent), is any one
of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action (gas
bubbles) that lightens and softens the mixture.
• An alternative or supplement to leavening agents is mechanical action by which air is
incorporated. Leavening agents can be biological or synthetic chemical compounds.
• The gas produced is often carbon dioxide, or occasionally hydrogen.
• When a dough or batter is mixed, the starch in the flour and the water in the dough form a
matrix (often supported further by proteins like gluten or polysaccharides, such as
pentosans or xanthan gum).
• Then the starch gelatinizes and sets, leaving gas bubbles that remain.
• Leavening agent, substance causing expansion of doughs and batters by the release of
gases within such mixtures, producing baked products with porous structure.

Leavening Agents
• Such agents include air, steam, yeast, baking powder, and baking soda.
Types of leavening agent
• 1. Air. beating egg whites, sifting flour, beating batter.
• 2. Steam. baked at high temperatures, so that water turns to steam, as in cream puffs.
• 3. Baking Soda. a chemical levener that must be used with an acidic food, such as butter
milk. 4. Baking Powder. 5. Yeast.

Nonnutritive Sweeteners
• Nonnutritive (Meaning) - not of or relating to nutrition : not providing nourishment
• The FDA has approved eight types of non-nutritive sweeteners for use in food, drinks,
oral care products and some medications.
• The newest is Advantame, which is 20,000 times sweeter than sugar.
What are non-nutritive sweeteners?
• Nonnutritive sweeteners are substances used instead of sugars (i.e., sucrose, corn syrup,
honey, agave nectar) to sweeten foods, beverages and other products, such as oral care
products and certain medications.
• Non-nutritive sweeteners (also called sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners) contain
few or no calories or nutrients.
• They may be derived from plants or herbs, or even sugar itself.
• They have a greater intensity of sweetness compared with sugar, so smaller quantities are
needed for flavoring foods and beverages.
• Some artificial sweeteners are not metabolized, meaning that they pass through the
digestive tract essentially unchanged.
The eight nonnutritive sweeteners that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) are used in food, drink, oral care products and some medications
• 1. Aspartame (Nutra sweet)
• 2. Acesulfame potassium (Sunett)
• 3. luohanguo (monk) fruit extract
• 4. Neotame
• 5. Saccharin (Sweet twin or sugar twin)
• 6. Stevia (Truvia, Sweet drop)
• 7. Sucralose (Splenda)
• 8. Advantame.

• • Aspartame (Equal® or NutraSweet®) is about 200 times sweeter than table sugar.
Aspartame is used as a tabletop sweetener found in a wide variety of foods and
beverages, including cereals, yogurt, frozen and gelatin desserts, candy, sugar-free gum,
juices, diet sodas, and many other products. It is also used in drugs such as vitamin
supplements and laxatives. It is often found in a blue packet. This sweetener MUST be
avoided by those who have phenylketonuria (PKU), a rare genetic disorder.
• • Acesulfame potassium (Sunett® and Sweet One®) is generally used in combination
with other non-nutritive sweeteners and is frequently found in sugar-free sodas.
• • Neotame is also used in low-calorie foods and beverages, but to a lesser extent than
other sweeteners. It is about 7,000 to 13,000 times sweeter than sugar.
• • Saccharin (Sweet 'N Low®, Sweet Twin® and Sugar Twin®) is the oldest artificial
sweetener on the market. It was discovered in the late 1800s. Saccharin is 200 to 700
times sweeter than table sugar. It is often found in a pink packet.
• • Sucralose (Splenda® and Equal Sucralose) is 600 times sweeter than sugar. Sucralose is
very versatile. It can be used as a replacement for sugar in cooking and baking, or used
with sugar in recipes. It is found in many low-calorie foods and beverages, such as baked
goods and other desserts, canned fruits, dairy products and syrups. Sucralose may also be
used as a tabletop sweetener. It is often found in a yellow packet.
• • Stevia (Truvia®, Stevia in the Raw®, SweetLeaf® Sweet Drops™, Sun Crystals® and
PureVia®) is extracted from the leaves of the stevia plant, which is native to South
America. Stevia is 200 to 300 sweeter than sugar. Stevia is used in a wide range of foods
and beverages, including teas and juices, and as a tabletop sweetener. It is often blended
with another non-nutritive sweetener to reduce bitterness. It is often found in green
packets.
• • Luohanguo (Monk fruit extract) (Monk Fruit in the Raw ®) is a natural sweetener made
from crushed monk fruit. It is the newest non-nutritive sweetener on the market. It has
been used as a sweetener in China for almost 1,000 years. It contains no calories and is
about 10-250 times sweeter than sugar. It is often blended with other non-nutritive
sweeteners.
 • • Advantame is the newest non-nutritive sweetener approved by the FDA. It is 20,000
time sweeter than sugar. It is not commonly used at this time.

Buffering Agents

• Control of PH is a very important step in food industries and in food preparations.

• In the manufacture of bread, control of PH (between 4.5 and 5.0 ) is required for the
action of amylases on wheat starch.
• In the processing of fruits and vegetables, if PH is not controlled.
• The PH stability is achieved through a buffer system.
• Buffer solutions have the ability to maintain a relatively constant PH when small amounts
of acids or bases are added to them.
• Strong acid and bases are unsuitables for this purpose.
• A buffer solution contains a weak acid and a salt of that acid or a week bases and one of
its salts.
• Buffering agents have variable properties.
• Some are more soluble than other, Some are acidic while other are basic.
• As PH managers, they are important in many chemical applications including agriculture,
food processing, biochemistry, medicine and photography.
• A buffering agent is a weak acid or base used to maintain the acidity (pH) of a solution
near a chosen value after the addition of another acid or base.
• That is, the function of a buffering agent is to prevent a rapid change in pH when acids or
bases are added to the solution.
• Buffering agents have variable properties—some are more soluble than others; some are
acidic while others are basic.
• As pH managers, they are important in many chemical applications, including
agriculture, food processing, biochemistry, medicine and photography.
•
Buffering Agents

Example of buffering agents

• 1. Extracellure agents
• eg- Bicarbonate, Ammonia.
• 2. Intra cellular agents
• eg- proteins, phosphate
• 3. Monosodium phosphate
• 4. Disodium phosphate.

• Buffering agents in humans, functioning in acid–base homeostasis, are extracellular

agents (e.g., bicarbonate, ammonia) as well as intracellular agents (including proteins and
phosphate).
 • A dilute mixture of monosodium phosphate and disodium phosphate can be made to
approach physiological pH and can serve as an agent for phosphate loading or colonic
lavage.

Preservatives such as Sulphur Dioxide and Benzoic Acid

1. Sulphur dioxide :
• Sulphur dioxide has been used in foods for long as a general preservative.
• It is used in the treatment of fruits and vegetables before and after dehydration to extend
the storage life of fresh grapes.
• Prevent the growth of undesirable micro-organism during wine making and the
manufacture of fruit juices.
• Sulphur dioxide is also the most useful agent for the preparation of browning reactions in
dried fruits.
• Most cut fruits are treated with suiphur dioxide to prevent enzymic browning.
• Sulphur dioxide used as a preservative includes the gas (SO2), the sodium or potassium
bisulphites (NaHSO3 or KHSO3), metabisulphite (Na2S2O5 or K2S2O5).
• In aqueous solutions, sulphur dioxide and the sulphite salt form sulphurous acid (H2SO3)
and ions of bisulphite (HSO3-) and sulphite (SO32-).
• One of the defects of use of sulphur dioxide is it leaves an unmistakable taste in the
mouth.
• It also causes the breakdown of vitamin B-1. So that foodscontaining sulphur dioxide
may not be good sources of this vitamin.

2. Benzoic acid :
• Benzoic acid is widely used as an anti-microbial agent.
• Its sodium salt is more soluble in water than the free acid and hence it is generally used.
• Benzoic acid is a white soilid with the formula C6H5Co2H. It is the simplest aromatic
carboxylic acid.
• Benzoic acid occurs naturally in many plants.
• Salts of benzoic acid are used as food preservatives.
• Benzioc acid is more effective at PH 4.0 and below, essentially a mold and yeast
inhibitor, it imparts a peppery taste at 0.1 percent level and is generally used in high acid
foods, such as fruit juices, carbonated drinks, ketchups, sauces, pickles and salad
dressings.
• Benzoic acid should be stored in a cool dry place.
• Container should be closed.
• This product is not corrosive.
 Assignment No. 5

Q.N Name of Question

1 Define food additives.

2 Give the classification of food additives with their suitable examples.

3 Give the various examples of food additives and describe its role.

4 Describe the following-

a) Anti oxidants
b) Colouring and flavoring agents
c) Chelating agents
d) Curing agents
e) Stabilizer and Thickener
f) Emulsifiers
g) Flour improvers.
5 Describe the following-
a) Humectants
b) Anti cracking agents
c) Leavening agents
d) Nonnutritive sweeteners.
6 Describe the preservatives such as Sulphur dioxide and benzoic acid.

7 Describe the buffering agents.

8 Describe the functions of food additives and give their suitable examples.

9 Give the parameters for selection of Preservatives.