Understanding Food Additives

• Food additives are substances not typically consumed as food by themselves, but added intentionally for technological purposes during manufacturing, processing, packaging, etc.
• The Codex Alimentarius and FDA both define food additives similarly, focusing on substances added for a technological purpose that may affect the characteristics of the food.

Learning Objectives

• Define food additives and determine their types.
• Enumerate the major purposes of direct food additives.
• Discuss the benefits and risks of food additives.
• Give examples for each type of food preservatives.

Definition

• Food additives are any substance or mixture of substances, other than the basic foodstuff, that's present in food as a result of any phase of production, processing, packaging, or storage.

Direct Food Additives: Purposes

• To provide nutrition:
  • Examples include iodine, vitamin D in milk, and niacin (Vit B3).
• To maintain product quality and freshness:
  • Acids prevent discoloration in dipping apples.
  • Propionibacterium spp. produce propionic acid to inhibit molds.
• To aid in processing and preparation of foods:
  • Emulsifiers like lecithin and thickeners like pectin.
• To make foods appealing:
  • Food colorings added to sauces and other foods.

Food Additives: Benefits and Risks

• Benefits:
  • Safer food supply
  • More nutritious food options
  • Increased variety of food products
  • Lower-priced foods
• Risks:
  • Introduction of low-nutrient foods
  • Potential direct toxicological effects

Regulations

• The Joint Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) evaluates the safety and residue information of direct & indirect food additives.
• GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe): Substances recognized by experts as safe due to extensive history of use or published scientific evidence before 1958.
• Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI): Estimate by JECFA of the amount of a food additive that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without appreciable health risk, expressed on a body weight basis.
  • Nitrates: 3.7 mg/kg body weight.
• Maximum Usage Level (MUL): Highest concentration of additive determined to be functionally effective and safe by the Codex Alimentarius Commission.
  • Nitrates: 420 mg/kg of solid food.
• Quantum Satis (QS): No maximum level specified; additive used in accordance with Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) at a level no higher than necessary to achieve the intended purpose without misleading the consumer.

Types of Additives

• Preservatives
• Nutritional Additives
• Texturizing Agents
• Flavoring Agents
• Coloring Agents
• Miscellaneous Additives

Preservatives

• Prevent deteriorative reactions in food.
  • Antimicrobial Agents
  • Antioxidants
  • Anti-browning Agents

Antimicrobial Agents

• Nitrates/Nitrites: Used in curing meats to prevent growth of Clostridium botulinum.
  • Summary of the Transformation Pathway:
    • Nitrite (NO₂) → Nitric Oxide (NO)
    • Nitric Oxide (NO) + Myoglobin → Nitrosomyoglobin (dark red)
    • Nitrosomyoglobin + Heat → Nitrosylhemochrome (bright pink)
• Sulfites/Sulfur dioxide: Inhibit enzyme-catalyzed reactions and microorganisms; commonly used in wine and dried fruits.
• Propionates: Active against molds and some bacteria, especially in bakery products.
• Benzoates: Benzoates are usually added to soft drinks, fruit juices, and purees.
• Nisin: A small antimicrobial peptide produced by LAB; inhibits Gram (+) bacteria in dairy products.
• Parabens: Effective against yeast, molds, and bacteria in cereals and cosmetics.

Antioxidants

• Antioxidants are substances that can delay or inhibit free radical oxidation of fats and oils.
  • Prevents rancidity, color and odor changes, viscosity changes, destruction of fat-soluble vitamins, and loss of essential fatty acids.
• Categories
  • Natural: Tocopherols, Polyphenols, Ascorbic Acid
  • Synthetic: BHA, BHT, TBHQ, Propyl Gallate
  • Synergistic: 3,3-thiodipropionic acid with BHA
    • Better if used together
• TBHQ with PG: tert-Butylhydroquinone, propyl gallate
• BHA: butylated hydroxy anisole
• BHT: butylated hydroxytoluene

Anti-Browning Agents

• Prevent browning (enzymatic and non-enzymatic) in food.
  • Enzymatic browning is caused by polyphenol oxidase (PPO)
    • Oxidizes phenolic compounds into o-quinones which polymerize into melanins (brown pigments).
  • Non-enzymatic browning: a browning process that does not involve enzymes.
    • Maillard Reaction
      • Reaction of carbonyl group of reducing sugar and amino group of protein.
    • Caramelization
      • Sugars undergo thermal degradation at high temperatures, leading to dehydration, fragmentation, and polymerization.
• Sulfites: Powerful anti-browning agents that can be added in various forms: sulfur dioxide, sodium sulfite, sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfites.
  • Interact with intermediate products
    • Ortho quinones of both enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning.
• Ascorbic Acid
  • Inactivates PPO due to the destruction of active sites.
  • Ability to reduce the initial product in enzymatic browning, back into the Substrate.
• Citric Acid
  • Acts as a chelating agent which forms a complex with copper making PPO, a Copper Containing enzyme, inactive.
    • Used in combination with other anti-browning agents;
    • Most Widely used acidulant to control EB.
• 4-Hexylresorcinol
  • Inhibits browning by Competitive binding into the reducing compound (o-diphenolic compounds);
    • Used to prevent discoloration of unpeeled shrimps. - Melanosis Scoring

Nutritional Additives

• Term used to address vitamins and minerals that are added to improve nutritional quality of the food
  • Adress nutritional quality
    • Now address deficiences as marketing strategy
• Vitamin A - Is a group of nutritionally active unsaturated hydrocarbons, including retinol and related compounds and certain carotenoids. - Plays a role in normal vision & intergrity to the immune system.
• Pro-vitamin A carotenoids - are carotenoids that have vitamin A activity ( expressed as beta-carotene activity).
• Vitamin D - Regulates Ca-P homeostasis and involved in bone formation and maintenance; sensitive to light and heat - Lack of this vitamin can cause rickets -soft & fragile hones of children.
• Vitamin E - Is the generic term for tocols and tocotrienols that exhibit vitamin activity similar to that of 2-tocopherol - Major lipid-anhoxidant in human.
• Vitamin K - Vitamin K group of naphthoquinones that exist with or without a terpenoid side chain in the 3-position. - Plays a crucial role in blood clotting.

Fortification

• is the addition of one or more essential nutrients to a food, whether or not it is normally contained in the food, for the purpose of preventing or correcting a demonstrated deficiency of one or more nutrients in the population or specific population groups.

Restoration

means the addition to a food of essential nutrients which are lost during the course of Good Manufacturing Process (GMP)

• or during normal storage and handling procedures, in amounts which will result in the presence in the food of the levels of the nutrients present in the edible portion of the food before processing, storage or handling.

Sweeteners

• Two Major Categories:

  • Nutritive & Non-nutritive

• Nutrative - Caloric Sweetners

  • Provide energy (carbohydrates)
  • Table sugar, honey, molasses, syrups from maple and corn

• Sugar Alcohols (Sorbitol, Mannitol, Xylitol & Maltitol) - Less sugar - Less sugar - More potent

• Candy/ Gum - Does not increase sugars

• Sucralose - The Gold Standard in Sweetness

• Sucrose -Table sugar

• NON NUTRTIVE SWEETENERS

• NO CALORIES OR Low calories and high intensity sweetners

• Neotame - Dipeptide is chemical, stronger table sugars, heat stabile, FDA

• Aspartame- Dipeptide methyl ester , AA , 200 x Potent , is NOT heat Stabile , phenylkotonuira is not metabolized , bran dammage

• Advantame Similar but 100x sweeter (aprox 20.000 x) , heat stabile

• AcculfameK - Discovered in 1967 . No after taste , unless alone in larger amounts --200x

• Saccharin- the most oldest and known Approved FandB use

• • FAT replacers

• help reduce fat while maintaing FAT qualities

• Three types (Lipid, protein and carbohydrate)

• Mimectics non FAT, CHO and PROTEIN, FWER Calories properties of similar

• Substitutes Posses Similar , like fat And can replace , in application hot and cold

• Fats AND OILS

• *Triglycerides with various % of unsaturared AA

• *SOLID ( HIG saturated ) , @ ROOM TEMP

• *Low ROOM , LOW SAT

Omega 3 AND 6

 - not made , required supply.

• -Flaxseeds are 3 and vegie oil 6

FUNCTION Lipid

flavor and texture - FAT

• Transporters/ vitamin FSV
• Thermal , Insulation and organ prot
• *FAT Replaces Are ingredient that refulce fats mimic mouth Feel , CHO vs protein Lower calories , NOT heat stabile
• Fat substitutes.

Fatty Acids

Omega 3 and 6

• Types (Enzymatic and unenzymatic)
• Enzymatic- action, Polyphenol
• Non enzymatic : Maillard R
• Flavorings are products that added to food to food to impart, modify or enhance the flavor of food
• Flavouring don't included is exclusive - (Like sugar ,vingar

Artistics creation is error

scientific approach with unique flavors

• • Biosythentic - fementations , natural through chemist,
• • Additives Flavoring
• potentiators are ( small effective biologicals) Enhances
• intergrers are characheritics
• exsist ( color)
• Thermolly - foodtuffs or treatment Smokey,

####### Color ants ,

• additative ,dye ,pigments (by synthism

Certifiable * colorants

exempt / natural sources like vegetable,mineral,animla

ex- Chloraphy. , carrotends anticyanins etc

• Plant pigments are. Responsible from colours
• Canthaw xanthin keto form

Additivies flavour

Add flavour alter aroma

• Seasoners aromatic