In
our modern world our food is processed, packaged and
placed on the shelves and in the refrigerated cases of
our supermarkets in pretty front facing rows. As
consumers we often forget that tucked into the foods we
are buying is a substantial amount of additives. It is
disturbing to note that the average North American eats
approximately 150 lbs. of food additives a year. A food
additive is a substance put into food that affects or
enhances its characteristics and can include sugars,
vitamins, minerals, chemicals, preservatives and dyes.
There are very few foods that do not contain some sort
of additive and these pristine products can be priced
out of most budgets. Here are 10 common reasons
additives are put into our food.
1. Increase Nutrition
Some
food additives are designed to increase the nutrition
levels in the end products. This is called enrichment
when the process adds back nutrients lost in production
(such as milling grains) and fortification when a
nutrient is added that does not naturally occur in the
food. Fortification is done to introduce needed vitamins
and minerals which can help prevent diseases. This
practice is commonly done to table salt (iodine), breads
(vitamin B and iron) and orange juices, milk or eggs
(calcium, omega-3, omega-6 and vitamin D). This probably
seems beneficial at first especially in the case of
additives like iodine which is designed to help combat
thyroid disease but you have to wonder if these
additions are entirely healthy. It is a fact that
processing food removes vitamins and minerals which
cannot be put back in with a few simple enrichments. The
natural nutrients in food are designed to exist with
other parts of the food, for example minerals with amino
acids, and synthetic nutrients do not have the same easy
composition. Our bodies do not process synthetic
nutrients the same way so these well intentioned food
additions are lost to elimination.
2. Extend Shelf Life
One of the most common reasons to add a chemical or
additive to food is to increase its shelf life. Most
foods are prone to spoilage and are vulnerable to air,
mould, bacteria, moisture and temperature. Before modern
refrigeration and mass production of food many cultures
struggled to find methods of preserving its stores to
feed people through the winter. For example the Romans
used honey to preserve fruit and many cultures salted
their meat. More modern additives designed to preserve
foods include ascorbic acid (vitamin C), anti-oxidants
(vitamin C and E) and alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E).Some
foods we eat today are engineered to last for years when
in the past they were perishable. This improved shelf
life means that products are more readily available to
consumers for a longer period of time and can be shipped
to consumers that wouldn’t ordinarily be the target
demographic. This is great for the manufacturers but can
raise flags for the consumer. Preservatives are
monitored stringently by most government bodies and
those additives deemed a health risk are removed quite
quickly.
3. To Add Color
4. To Add Flavor
5. To Emulsify, Stabilize and Thicken
This
group of food additives is used to improve the mouth
feel of products while maintaining consistency for the
consumer. Without emulsifiers, thickeners and
stabilizers many of our favourite foods would be almost
unrecognizable in appearance and texture. Emulsifiers
help keep water and oils together in an “emulsion”. Some
common emulsifiers include gelatin, mono-and
diglycerides, lecithin and polysorbate 60 or 80.
Products that benefit from these additives are peanut
butter, ice cream, homogenized milk, yogurt, cheese,
mayonnaise, salad dressings, margarine, and artificial
whipped cream and coffee lighteners. Stabilizers act
almost like emulsifiers and give food a firmer texture
without changing the taste. Most people are familiar
with stabilizers such as pectin and agar which are used
in the production of jams and jellies. Thickeners and
bulking agents are very important to many food products.
These additives keep the oils, acids, sugars, water and
solid components in a product blended well while
absorbing excess water. Vegetable products are often
used as thickeners such as arrowroot, collagen,
cornstarch, guar gum, roux, tapioca, xanthan gum and
alginin.
6. To Solve Specific Food Problems
There
are several food additives that are designed to address
specific problems associated with certain foods. This
group includes anticaking agents, antifoaming agents,
humectants and propellants. These additives are designed
to enhance consumer enjoyment of the food by producing
or preventing effects. Anticaking agents are added to
ensure powdered or granular products such as salt, dried
milk, sugar, baking powder or flour flow freely and do
not clump up. These products are vulnerable to moisture
and the anticaking agent (often calcium silicate) will
absorb this excess moisture while coating the food
particles. Antifoaming agents are meant to prevent or
simply reduce foaming created in the production process
of food or foaming in the product itself. For example,
this additive is used in jams and jellies to avoid a
foamy surface in the finished jar and many sodas use
antifoaming products to prevent excessive effervescence.
Humectants keep foods moist and prevent dried foods from
drying out too much and becoming inedible. Propellants
are considered to be food additives because they are
introduced to a food product to change the products
characteristics. Propellants are the pressurized gases
that propel food from a container. Some common ones are
nitrogen, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. Some common
foods with added propellants include cheese, whipped
cream and oils such as PAM.
7. To Control Acidity
Acids are added to food products for many reasons ranging from taste to preservation. Many food acids such a citric acid and vinegar can make a food taste profiles sharper and enhance the eating experience. For example lemon pastries and sauces would not be as tart without the addition of food acids. Foods also need their acidity or alkalinity controlled to extend shelf life. Food additives such as fumaric acid, lactic acid, malic acid, tartaric acid and the above mentioned citric acid can regulate acidity and help maintain overall quality of the product. Acids such as citric acid are also antioxidants (limiting the effect of oxygen on the food) and beneficial to the health.
8. Marketing Decision
9. Saving Money in Production
Food companies need to be very aware of their production bottom line and the food cost associated with manufacturing their products. Food additives are part of controlling these costs. For example, many companies will utilize less expensive synthetic colors or flavours rather than a natural one to cut expenses. High fructose corn syrup is a common substitute for beet or cane sugar in many products. This corn syrup is high in calories, very low in nutritional benefits and consuming products regularly that contain it can lead to conditions such as type 2 Diabetes and coronary artery disease.
10. Accidental Food Additives
Substances
sometimes end up in our foods that were not put there
for as particular reason but simply because of its
production or packaging. One of the most well-known
accidental additives is antibiotics or hormones given to
the animals we eat while they are still alive. These
substances remain in the meat after the slaughter and
consumers ingest them which can impact health. Another
example of an additive which you will not find on the
label of the food is dioxins which are in some packaging
and can pollute the end product. Dioxins also accumulate
in the fats of animals, in milk, fish that are farmed,
and poultry products due to the chemicals presence in
the feed. If a potential additive is a well-known
danger, such as peanuts, the company manufacturing the
food must indicate on the label that peanuts (wheat, nut
products, etc.) may be present. Machines that process
peanut products cannot be used for non nut products
because traces remain and can be fatal to consumers.
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