Food Additives

Intended Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lecture you will be able to:
• Identify the major groups of food additives.
• Discuss the purposes of using FA.
• Identify the situations in which the FA should not be
used.
• Recognize the major types of intentional FA & to
describe the action & functions of each FA.
Should additives always be avoided? Some additives make food taste
better, last longer or are actually good for you. Some should be
avoided and may cause allergic reactions. But some manufacturers
imply that additives are bad, and that having no additives is a good
thing. What do you think?
Baked beans are
good for you and
taste good. But take
away the additive
and the sauce
becomes thin and
watery. The additive
here is corn flour or
starch, a natural
product that has
been used to thicken
sauces for years. Is
this an additive you
would like to see
banned?
Many savoury snacks contain salt – one of the oldest additives on the
planet. Some also contain monosodium glutamate or MSG. This helps
us to taste flavours so gives food a stronger taste. Some people react
badly to MSG. But would you ban it for everyone?
Tartrazine is a yellow
colouring. It makes
some types of
orange squash more
orange in colour. Do
we need it? Look at
these bottles – one
with and one
without. Which
would you buy? And
which do you think
would taste better?
Some people react
badly to tartrazine so
some manufacturers
have started to
replace it with
turmeric.
Some additives help to stop food going off. The most commonly used
preservatives include benzoic acid or citric acid. Fruit drinks, jams and
marmalades, many cakes and biscuits contain preservatives. So, here’s
another choice – additives or foods that will go off more quickly?
We’ve all got a very sweet tooth nowadays. The average teenager in
the UK gets through 19 kg of sugar every year in foods before they add
any to their tea or coffee! This adds lots of calories to our diets and is
not good for your teeth. Perhaps an artificial sweetener like aspartame
is actually healthier?
 Additives can be defined as:

A chemical added to a particular food for a

particular reason during processing or
storage which could affect the
characteristics of the food, or become part
of the food.
 Additives can be derived into 2 major
groups:
Intentional Additives:
• Chemical substances that are added to food for specific
purposes.
• Are regulated by strict governmental controls
Incidental Additives:
• Unintentionally added chemical substances.
• Have no control
 Intentional Additives
• Chemicals that are intentionally added into
foods to aid in processing, to act as
preservatives or to improve the quality of the
food.
• Strictly regulated by national & international
laws.
 E-Codes
• Codes indicates an ingredient which is some type of
food additives
• The “E” indicates that is a “European Union Approved”
food additive
E100–E199 (color additives) - (35)

E200–E299 (preservatives) - (30)

E300–E399 (antioxidants, acidity regulators) - (23)

E400–E499 (thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers) - (7)

E500–E599 (acidity regulators, anti-caking agents) - (3)

E600–E699 (flavor enhancers) - (7)

E700–E799 (antibiotics) - (9)

E900–E999 (miscellaneous) - (16)

E1000–E1599 (additional chemicals) - (15)

For the benefit of consumers, the Codex Alimentarius
Commission has prepared the INS for food additives ,
which provides an agreed international numbering
system for identifying food additives
Assignment:
Components of a Food Label and Regulations
Pertaining to Food Labeling.
 Purpose of using food additives:
• To improve or maintain nutritional value
• To enhance quality
• To reduce wastage
• To improve keeping quality / shelf life
• To enhance the customer acceptability
• To make the food readily available
• To facilitate the preparation of the food
 Additives should not be used:
• To disguise quality faults
• To conceal damage, spoilage or other inferiorities
• To deceive the customers
• If use cause substantial reduction of important
nutrients
• If the desired effect can be obtained by good
manufacturing practices
• In amounts greater than the minimum needed to
achieve the desired effect.
 Intentional food additives:
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Coloring agent
• Stabilizers & thickeners
• Emulsifiers
• Anti-oxidants
• Bleaching & maturing
agent
• Leavening agents
• Firming agents
• Anti-foaming
agents
• Flavoring agents
• Coloring agents
• Anti-caking agents
• Buffers
 Preservatives
• Any substance which is capable of inhibiting,
retarding or arresting the growth of m.o. in
food.
 Importance of Preservatives:
• Made variety of foods available for longer periods
to more people.
• Prevent spoilage & undesirable alterations in
color & flavor.
• Prevent microbial spoilage, atmospheric
oxidation, chemical reactions etc.
• Preservatives are mostly bacteriastatic not
bacteriacidal.
 Two major categories:
Class I Preservatives – traditional preservatives
• Salts, dextrose, vinegar, Spices, glucose, acetic acid,
honey, smoke
Class II Preservatives
1. Inorganic – sulfites, nitrates & nitrites,
H2O2, NaCl
2. Organic – benzoic acid, paraben, sorbic acid,
propionates, formaldehydes
 Choice of a preservative / antimicrobial agent
has to be based on:
• A knowledge of the anti-microbial spectrum of the
preservatives
• The chemical & physical properties of both food &
preservatives
• The condition of storage & handling
• The assurance of a high initial quality of the food to
be preserved
• These chemical preservatives interfere with the cell
membrane of m.o., their enzymes or their genetic
mechanisms.
 Benzoic acid
• Widely used anti microbial agent in food.

• Occur naturally in many fruits, plums, spices etc.

• More effective against yeast & molds

• Used as benzoic acid & benzoate

• Usual range: 0.05-0.1%

• Toxicity: weight loss, diarrhea, irritation of internal

membranes, bleeding, liver & kidney enlargements,
paralysis, death etc.
• Sodium benzoate is water soluble & often used
• Undissociated form of benzoic acid is more
effective
• Optimum pH range is from
2.5-4.0
• Very effective anti-microbial
agent in high acid food.
• Eg. Fruit drinks, Cider,
carbonated beverage,
pickles, margarines, soy
sauce, jam etc.
• Not harmful in small amounts.
• Readily eliminated from the body, by conjugating
with glycine to form hippuric acid.

• Detoxification process prevent accumulation of

benzoic acid in the body.
 Sorbic Acid

• Effective against yeast & mold

• It’s a straight chain trans-trans unsaturated fatty

acid (2,4 – hexadienoic acid)
• Exist in the forms of sodium sorbate, potassium
sorbate, and calcium sorbate

• Stable in dry form & unstable in (aq) solutions

as they decompose through oxidation.

• Effective in products at low pH

• Effective level in food: 0.3-0.5%

• Sorbate effective up
to pH 6.5
• Eg. Cheese, wine,
pickles, cakes,
sausages,
carbonated
beverages
 Propionate
• Widely use in bakery products

• Effective against mold & bacteria at levels of

0.2%

• Don’t inhibit the action of yeast greatly.

 Inorganic preservatives
SO2 & sulfites

• Antimicrobial agent & anti-oxidant & preserve color.

• SO2 can used as a gas to treat dehydrated fruits.

• Sulphur dioxide and its various sulphites dissolve in
water, and at low pH levels yield sulphurous acid,
bisulphite and sulphite ions.
• The most widely used of these sulfites is potassium
metabisulfite
 Sulfites
• When sulfur dioxide dissolved in water, following ions are
formed:
– SO2(gas)  SO2(aq)
– SO2(aq) + H2O  H2SO3
– H2SO3  H+ + HSO3-
– HSO3-  H+ + SO32-
– 2HSO3-  S2O52- + H2O

• All of these forms of sulfur are known as free sulfur dioxide

• HSO3- can react with aldehyde, dextrins, pectic
substances, proteins, ketones & certain sugars
to form additional compounds (Bound SO2).

• SO2 & H2SO3 are more effective anti-microbial

agents in acidic media (pH 4.5 or lower).
• SO2 inhibit bacteria, yeast & moulds but always
not to the same degree.

• SO32- inhibits certain enzyme catalyze browning

reactions (antioxidants)

• SO2 & sulfites are metabolized to sulfate &

excreted in urine without any harmful effect.
 Nitrates & Nitrites
• Used as curing salts
• Both forms have antimicrobial activity.
• Used to stabilize pink color & form cured flavor of
meat products.
• Nitrites prevent the growth of Clostridium botulinum,
that secrete a deadly toxin (botulin), they grow in
anaerobic condition and readily found in interior of
ham or meat that has been vacuum package.
• Nitrite may be reacted with secondary amines in
foods & form nitrosamine (liver cancers).
• Nitrosamines are powerful carcinogenic
compound.
• Nitrites in meat form nitric oxide which react
with heam compounds to form
nitrosomyoglobin.
• Nitrite more effective at pH 5.0-5.5