Article: Food additives

Food additives play an important part in our food supply ensuring that our food is safe and meets the needs of consumers. Many food additives have long complex names. Sometimes these are abbreviated, sometimes not. Some have more than one name and a few include letters from the Greek alphabet! The food additives list can be confusing so, to help reduce this confusion, each food additive is given a short code number. Many people like to know what these food additive codes stand for and some people may choose to avoid certain food additives. This list is a convenient way to check food labels as you shop, to let you know what the food additive is and what it does.

How to find out about a food additive

If you want to know more about a particular food additive look at the ingredient list on the food label where you will find the food additive’ s name, function and number, for example, acidity regulator (260). You can use this information to gain a better understanding of what is in the food you eat. For example, acidity regulators help maintain a constant acid level in foods. This can help prevent foods from spoiling, keep them safe, as well as change the flavour of the food.

Food additives are used in processed foods in relatively small quantities. Many substances used as food additives also occur naturally, such as vitamin C or ascorbic acid (300) in fruit or lecithin (322) in egg yolks, soya beans, peanuts and maize.

Just as food additives are chemical substances, so are all the foods to which they are added. Foods are made up of many thousands of chemical substances. The human body cannot distinguish between a chemical naturally present in a food and that same chemical present as an additive. What are food additives used for?

There are good reasons for the use of food 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 the food additive list, you can look up the numbers to identify the additives by name:

Thickener (1422) - acetylated distarch adipate
      Acidity regulator (270) - lactic acid
      Acidity regulator (260) - acetic acid, glacial
      Thickener (415) - xanthan gum

What do food additives do?

Some food additives have more than one use. Food additives are 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 flavours 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 lollies, while some low-joule foods need bulking agents added to them to replace the bulk normally provided by sugar.

Colourings add or restore colour to foods. For example, icing mixture is coloured 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 / Stabilisers maintain the uniform dispersion of substances in solid and semi-solid foods.

Flavour enhancers enhance the existing taste and/or odour 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.

Who controls the use of food additives?

Food Standards Australia New Zealand carries out safety assessments of food additives before they are allowed to be used. They following things are checked:

Is the food additive safe (at the requested level in that particular food)?
Are there good technological reasons for the use of the food additive?
Will consumers be clearly informed about its presence?

A food additive is approved for use by Food Standards Australia New Zealand only if it can be demonstrated that no harmful effects are expected to result from the requested use. Extensive testing of food additives is required, and Food Standards Australia New Zealand evaluates this data to determine if the food additive is safe. In addition, an ’ exposure assessment’ is undertaken, which estimates the likely amount that would be consumed if the food additive were permitted for use. This estimated amount of consumption is then compared to the ’ acceptable daily intake’ (ADI), which is the amount of a food additive that can be eaten every day for an entire lifetime without adverse effect.

When satisfied on these points Food Standards Australia New Zealand recommends a maximum level of the food additive permitted in particular foods, based on technological need and providing it is well within safe limits. Food additives by numbers

The Food Standards Code requires food labels to list all ingredients in descending order of proportion by weight. The labelling required by law is there to inform consumers about the presence of additives in foods.

Food additives are required to be identified by their class name and by an individual name or code number. The numbers used are based on an international system used to identify food additives.

The code numbering system replaces long names on labels but still provides consumers with adequate information about the presence of food additives.

This means, for example, that the substance known as brilliant blue cannot be listed simply as ‘colour’. The label of the food containing added colour must state not only the class name ‘colour’ but also the specific name of the food additive: for example ‘colour (Brilliant blue FCF)’. To simplify the label, the number for this food additive may use instead of the specific name: for example ‘colour (133)’.

Food labelling allows you to identify the presence of additives in packaged food and to make an informed choice about the foods you buy.

This is an example of an ingredient list, which might appear on a packaged stir-fry meal:

Ingredients – pork (30%), wheat flour (10%), capsicum, pineapple, green beans, sweet corn, sugar, tomato paste, pineapple concentrate, water, thickener (1422), acidity regulators (270, 260), soy sauce, salt, flavours, thickener (415). Intolerance and food additives

Adverse reactions to food additives occur in small proportion of the population. More people are intolerant to common foods (such as peanuts, milk or eggs) than to food additives. Intolerance does not depend on whether the food additive is derived from a natural or synthetic source.

The labelling of food products helps people who are sensitive to some food additives to avoid them. Other information: * Choosing the right stuff – the official shoppers’ guide to food additives and labels, kilojoules and fat content

For more information you may also like to look at the Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives websites: http://www.inchem.org/pages/jecfa.html or http://jecfa.ilsi.org/search.cfm.

This is an international web site that also explain about the assessment and approval of food additives

For more information please contact eatingsafe.com on 1300654622 or info@eatingsafe.com

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