What and Why of Food Additives
Food additives refer to any substance added to your food. This includes any substance used in the production, processing, treatment, packaging, transportation or storage of food. All food additives have been evaluated by the FDA and are found to be safe.
Direct additives are added for a specific purpose and indirect additives are become part of the food due to its packaging, storage or other handling. Many direct additives are identified on the ingredient label of foods.
Without some food additives the loss and costs associated with spoilage and pests would be higher. Also, additives are used to improve the nutritional value and can make food more appealing by improving their taste, texture, consistency or color.
Most people today have come to rely on the many technological, aesthetic and convenience benefits that additives provide in food.
Many substances listed on the ingredient label sound foreign, yet you might know them by a different name. For example:
- ascorbic acid is another name for Vitamin C
- alphatocopherol is another name for Vitamin E
- beta-carotene is a source of Vitamin A.
Some additives have been used for centuries, such as salt to preserve meats and fish, herbs and spices to improve the flavor, sugar to preserved, and pickled cucumbers in a vinegar solution.
Some additives are manufactured from natural sources such as soybeans and corn, which provide lecithin to maintain product consistency, or beets, which provide beet powder used as food coloring.
Other useful additives are not found in nature and must be man-made. Artificial additives can be produced more economically, with greater purity and more consistent quality than some of their natural counterparts.
Essentially the necessity of food additives comes down to a benefit to you or a profit to manufacturers. Read the food labels to help educate yourself to discover which it is. A great start is limiting processed food intake.
After all, nature produced is the way your body likes it. Eating basic variety is healthiest.
