About food additives

Recognize food additives

Why do we need food additives?
A. Preserving food
1. Ensure food safety and supplement nutrients.
Improve food safety and preservability, and reduce the chance of material mutation.
2. Improved food quality and processing.
Improve the taste and feel of food and increase the desire to eat.
3. Reduce processing costs and preserve food nutrition.
Improve the processability of raw materials and reduce the loss of food.

B. Processing standardization (product uniformity)
1. Color: coloring agent, color retention agent, bleaching agent
2. Flavor: spices, seasonings, antioxidants
3. Texture: binding agent, adhesive
4. Antimicrobial: water activity control, preservatives, insecticides
5. Oil and water separation: emulsifier
6. Nutrition: nutritional Additives
7. Less salt and less sugar: flavoring, spice

I.    Classification of food additives
•    Class (1) Preservatives
•    Class (2) Fungicides
•    Class (3) Antioxidants
•    Class (4) Bleach
•    Class (5) Retaining agent
•    Class (6) Expansion Agent
•    Class (7) Quality improvement, brewing and food manufacturing agents
•    Class (8) Nutritional additive
•    Class (9) Colorant
•    Class (10) Spices
•    Class (11) Sweetener
•    Class (12) Thickener (paste)
•    Class (13) Cladding agent
•    Class (14) Chemicals for the food industry
•    Class (15) Carrier
•    Class (16) Emulsifier
•    Class (17) Other

II.    Common uses of food additives (1) Color
Commonly added to foods as "maintaining quality chromaticity and color"：
(1) Colorant
Function: Make the product color diversity, bright color, enhance the product good feeling.
For example: food coloring (edible red No. 6, caramel color), lutein. 
(2) Color retention agent
Function: Keep the color of the meat as a fixed flesh color (bright red).
For example: nitrite, nitrate, often found in sausages, ham, bacon products. 
(3) Bleach
Function: Make the product color uniform and similar in texture.
For example: sulfite, often found in dried fruit products such as dried golden needles, raisins, etc.
III.    Common uses of food additives (2) Freshness
Commonly added to foods as "maintaining quality freshness" are：
(1) Preservative
Function: Prevent microbial growth.
For example: hexadienoic acid, sodium benzoate (bacteriostatic). 
(2) Fungicide
Function: Kill microorganisms attached to food.
For example: hydrogen peroxide (hydrogen peroxide), control product PH. 
(3) Antioxidants
Function: Inhibits the oxidation reaction of oils and fats in foods such as fats, cheeses and canned foods.
For example: vitamin C (ascorbic acid), vitamin E (tocopherol).

IV.    Common uses of food additives (3) Taste
Commonly added to foods as "improving product taste" are:：

(1) Acid, sweetener:
Function: increase the variety of product taste.
For example: acetic acid, citric acid, malic acid, aspartame, xylitol.

(2) Flavoring (flavoring):
Function: Improve the taste of food.
For example: MSG (sodium glutamate), master cooking (sodium succinate), synthetic flavors and fragrances.

V.    How to prevent ubiquitous “food additives”?
Natural is the best and most beautiful.
Choose a reputable, well-marked product.
The same product, the composition is similar, but the price difference is very large.
Keep "simple suspicion" and see the "raw material label" on the "back" of the product, and make judgments within the scope of common sense.