Essential Guide to Food Additives
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Essential Guide to Food Additives

Mike Saltmarsh, Mike Saltmarsh

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eBook - ePub

Essential Guide to Food Additives

Mike Saltmarsh, Mike Saltmarsh

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Food additives have played and still play an essential role in the food industry. Additives span a great range from simple materials like sodium bicarbonate, essential in the kitchen for making cakes, to mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, an essential emulsifier in low fat spreads and in bread. It has been popular to criticise food additives, and in so doing, to lump them all together, but this approach ignores their diversity of history, source and use. This book includes food additives and why they are used, safety of food additives in Europe, additive legislation within the EU and outside Europe and the complete listing of all additives permitted in the EU. The law covering food additives in the EU which was first harmonised in 1989 has been amended frequently since then, but has now been consolidated with the publication of Regulations 1331/2008 and 1129/2011. This 4th edition of the Guide brings it up to date with the changes introduced by this legislation and by the ongoing review of additives by EFSA. Providing an invaluable resource for food and drink manufacturers, this book is the only work covering in detail every additive, its sources and uses. Those working in and around the food industry, students of food science and indeed anyone with an interest in what is added to their food will find this a practical book full of fascinating details.

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Year
2019
ISBN
9781839161193
CHAPTER 1
Food Additives and Why They Are Used
MIKE SALTMARSH*a AND LYNN INSALLb
a Inglehurst Foods Ltd
b Food and Drink Federation
Consumers in modern industrial countries expect a wide range of foodstuffs to be available throughout the year. Supermarket shelves are stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables, meats and fish from many different countries; prepared salads, breads, preserved meats, spreads, part-prepared dishes ready to cook, cooking sauces, confectionery, drinks and chilled and frozen prepared meals for reheating. All these products have to survive the journey from harvest to store and, once purchased, to have an adequate shelflife for the convenience of the consumer. In many markets, prepared foodstuffs are increasingly required to offer the choice of specific nutritional properties, such as reduced fat, energy content or salt. Food additives are essential to enable the food industry in all its forms to make foods that meet these increasingly challenging demands.
It has become commonplace in some circles to criticise food additives, and in so doing, to lump them all together and imply that they are unnecessary, unnatural and generally not good. This approach ignores their diversity of nature, application and origin. It is often suggested that they are added for no good reason, which is not the case. In fact, the law requires that additives must perform a technological function in the foods in which they are used and may be added only in the minimum quantities necessary to perform that function.
Many of the materials we now call additives are not a recent introduction to the food industry but have been used in foods for hundreds of years. Once man had worked out how to obtain more food than needed for immediate consumption, he started to think about how to preserve some of it for times of shortage, such as drought or winter. And when he had established settled communities with a regular food supply, then preparing food to make it more attractive became desirable. There is evidence that Egyptians were using sulfur dioxide to help to preserve wine over 3000 years ago and the Greeks are known to have used a combination of salt and sodium nitrate to preserve meat in the time of Homer. Over hundreds of years, in Europe in particular, international trade increased the range of ingredients available as merchants introduced crops and food ingredients grown by or native to other cultures. Increasingly, cooks and consumers in Europe benefitted from these new ingredients, able for the first time to make cakes, desserts, confectionery, jams and sauces with many of the flavours and textures with which we are familiar today. New preservation techniques such as canning and freezing were added to the tools available to the food producer, and with these and other types of preparation and prepackaging came the requirement for additives such as thickeners, emulsifiers, stabilisers and sweeteners. The challenges posed by lengthening logistics chains, demands for increased convenience, and more recently for reduced fat with no loss of texture, reduced salt with no loss of shelflife, and freezeā€“thaw stability, have necessitated dedicated research programmes and the development of these more sophisticated additives.
Most countries have a system of approval of food additives, using either the Codex Alimentarius, national or multinational systems. In the EU all additives permitted for use in foods are given a number, prefixed by the letter E. The intention behind the introduction of this system in 1986 was that consumers would find it easier to recognise the number than some of the lengthier chemical names such as polyglycerol polyricinoleate. However, the introduction of the system allowed critics1 to suggest to consumers that rather than the E number being a mark of approval and safety, it was in fact a cause for suspicion and alarm. Whilst the intensity of the opposition to E numbers has decreased in the EU since then, its legacy persists with ā€œEā€ numbers being less common on ingredient labels and names being used in preference.

1.1 What are Additives?

The official definition in Europe of an additive, given in Regulation 1333/2008, is ā€œany substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of a food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to a food for a technological purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or storage of such food results, or may reasonably be expected to result, in it or its by-products becoming directly or indirectly a component of such foodā€.2
Whilst in most cases it is clear what is an ingredient and what an additive, and the Regulation helpfully provides some examples of what is excluded, even this definition is not entirely precise. For example, salt is an ingredient, vinegar is an ingredient, but if the acid in vinegar, acetic acid, is used alone it must be declared as an additive. Similarly, lemon juice is an ingredient while citric acid, its characterising acid, is an additive.
Food additives have a variety of different roles but in general terms they have two main functions: At the most basic level, they either make food safer by preserving it from bacteria or preventing oxidation or other chemical changes; or they make food look and taste better or feel more pleasing in the mouth.
The use of additives in food preservation is one of the oldest, if not the oldest traditions. Our forebears may not have thought of saltpetre or sodium nitrate, used as a curing agent, or vinegar (acetic acid) used for pickling as additives, but they were essential in maintaining a longer-term food supply of precious perishable foods. Salt, though not an additive by the modern definition, was the other vital ingredient in these preservation techniques.
Alongside their deliberate incorporation into food many additives are also used as processing aids. These are substances that are added either to an ingredient or during the production process, but that do not contribute to the final product. Thus, sulfur dioxide may be added during the peeling and slicing of apples to inhibit browning during the preparation of apple pieces for apple pie. The sulfur dioxide has no role in the final pie, and indeed the majority is driven off during the cooking of the pie. In this instance, the sulfur dioxide is a processing aid as it performs a function during the manufacturing process and is largely absent from the finished product. In the kitchen many of us would use lemon juice to prevent discolouration but this would have a slight effect on flavour. In the food industry, where production is increasingly specialised and expertise focused at specific sites, it is not unusual for the manufacturer of an end product to buy in many of his supplies as part-processed proprietary ingredients. So additives may be needed at the ā€œintermediateā€ stage, but would have no function in the final product. Another example is that of free-flow agents. Small quantities of these, e.g. silicates, may be added to vitamin premixes to ensure that they flow evenly into mixing vessels so that the vitamins are evenly distributed throughout the final product. Release agents are used to prevent food from sticking to a mould or, perhaps, slicing equipment. Again, these uses are to ensure ease and consistency throughout the production process but the additives have no function in the final food. This, then, is the essential technical difference between a processing aid and an additive. Processing aids do not have to be declared on the label.
Regulation 1333/2008 recognises 26 different classes of use for additives in the EU. These are:
Acids, acidity regulators, anticaking agents, antioxidants, antifoaming agents, bulking agents, colours, carriers, emulsifiers, emulsifying salts, firming agents, flavour enhancers, flour treatment agents, foaming agents, gelling agents, glazing agents, humectants, modified starches, packaging gases, preservatives, propellants, raising agents, sequestrants, stabilisers, sweeteners and thickeners.
The Regulation requires that additives may be used only if:
  • ā€“ they do not pose a safety concern to the health of the consumer at the level of use proposed;
  • ā€“ there is a reasonable technological need;
  • ā€“ and their use does not mislead the consumer.
The Regulation clarifies that food additives must serve one of the following purposes:
  • ā€“ preserving nutritional quality of the food;
  • ā€“ providing necessary ingredients or constituents of foods manufactured for groups of consumers with special dietary needs;
  • ā€“ enhancing the keeping quality or stability of a food;
  • ā€“ improving the organoleptic properties, provided that the nature, substance or quality of the food is not changed in such a way as to mislead the consumer;
  • ā€“ aiding in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or storage of food, including food additives, food enzymes and food flavourings, provided that the food additive is not used to disguise the effects of faulty raw materials or of any undesirable practices or techniques, including unhygienic processes or techniques, during the course of any such activities.
These are similar to the principles enshrined in the Codex Alimentarius, the joint FAO/WHO body responsible for international standards in food.
The harmonisation of food legislation in Europe that began in the 1980s was a prerequisite for trade in the Single Market as differences in national legislation constituted barriers to trade. The legislative position is set out in detail in a later chapter but it is important to appreciate that the development of a new raft of additives legislation was not indicative of the absence of controls before that time, but a recognition that differences in national approaches throughout the Member States were not conducive to the free movement of goods within a single economic entity.
The primary aim of the food industry is to meet consumer needs by providing a wide range of safe, wholesome, nutritious and attractive products at affordable prices all year round, responding to consumer requirements for quality, convenience, price and variety. It would be impossible to do this without the use of food additives. They are essential in the battery of tools used by the food manufacturer to convert agricultural raw materials into products that are safe, stable, of consistent quality and readily prepared and consumed.
Different types of additives are used for different purposes, though many individual additives perform more than one function. For the purposes of both classification and regulation in the EU, they are grouped according to their primary function. The main groupings or classes of additives listed above are explained in the following sections; together with their functions and some examples of their use.

1.2 Preservatives

Preservatives are probably the single most important class of additives, as they play an important role in the safety of the food supply. Despite this fact, any chemical used to counteract the perishability of food raw materials has often been perceived as suspect, and any food containing a preservative has been considered inferior or unsafe. Yet the use of chemical preservatives such as sulfur dioxide, sulfites and sodium nitrate is but a continuation of the age-old practices of using salt, nitrate and spices to preserve perishable foods in the days before refrigeration and modern processing techniques. All food raw materials are subject to biochemical processes and microbiological action that limit their keeping qualities. Preservatives are used to extend the shelflife of certain products and ensure their safety through that extended period. Most importantly, they retard bacterial degradation that can lead to the production of toxins and cause food poisoning. Thus, they offer a clear consumer benefit in keeping food safe over a shelflife that may be extended by the demands of modern lifestyles including infrequent bulk shopping expeditions. The continued perception of preservatives as undesirable, to which the many labels protesting ā€œno artificial preservativesā€ testify, is therefore an unfortunate consumer misapprehension.

1.3 Antioxidants

Antioxidants reduce the oxidative deterioration that leads to rancidity, loss of flavour, colour and nutritive value of foodstuffs. Many fats, oils, flavouring substances, vitamins and colours react with oxygen when exposed to air. The rate of deterioration can vary considerably and is influenced by the presence of natural antioxidants and other components, availability of oxygen, and sensitivity of the substance to oxidation, temperature and light, for example. Oxidation can be avoided, or retarded, by a number of means, such as replacing air by inert packaging gases, removal of oxygen with enzymes such as glucose oxidase, incorporation of UV-absorbing substances in transparent packaging materials, cooling, and the use of sequestering agents. These may not be possible in all cases, or sufficient for an adequate shelflife for some foods. Some antioxidants remove oxygen by self-oxidation, e.g. ascorbic acid, whilst others interfere in the mechanism of oxidation, e.g. tocopherols, gallic acid esters, BHA and BHT. All have specific properties, making them more effective in some applications than in others. Often a combination of two or more antioxidants is more effective than any one alone because they are synergistic. The presence of sequestering agents, such as citric acid, may also have a synergistic effect, by reducing the availability of metallic ions that may catalyse oxidation reactions. The use of the powerful synthetic antioxidants BHA, BHT and the gallic acid esters is very restricted (though an EFSA opinion published in March 2012 increased the ADI of BHT from 0ā€“0.05 mg/kg bw/day established by the SCF in 1987 to 0.25 mg/kg bw/day, opening up the possibility of extension to existing authorisations). Tocopherols, which can be either natural or synthetic, are less restricted but are less effective in the protection of processed foods. Antioxidants cannot restore oxidised foods; they can only retard the oxidation process. As oxidation is a chain-reaction process, it needs to be retarded as early as possible. The most effective use of antioxidants is therefore in fats and oils used in the manufacturing process.

1.4 Emulsifiers and Stabilisers

The purpose of emulsifiers and stabilisers is to facilitate the mixing together of ingredients that normally would not mix, namely oils or fats and water. This mixture of oil droplets in water, or water droplets in oils is an emulsion that is created by a vigorous mixing action and sustained by an emulsifier, and often a stabiliser. These additives are essential in the production of mayonnaise, chocolate products and fat spreads. The production of reduced fat spreads, which have made a significant contribution to consumer choice and dietary change, would be impossible without emulsifiers and stabilisers. Anyone who has ever made an emulsified sauce, such as mayonnaise or hollandaise, will appreciate the benefits of this technology ā€“ still more so those who have failed in the technique and ended up with an expensive mess of curdled ingredients.

1.5 Colours

Colours are used to enhance the visual properties of foods. Their use is particularly controversial, partly because colour is perceived by some as a means of deceiving the consumer about the nature of the food, but also because some of the most brightly coloured products are those aimed at children. This controversy reached a new height in 2007 with the publication of the so-called ā€œSouthampton Studyā€3(see following section on Intolerance). As with all additives, their use is strictly controlled and permitted only where a case of need is proven, e.g. to restore colour that is lost in processing, such as in canning or heat treatment; to ensure consistency of colour; and for visual decoration. The use of colour in food has a long and noble tradition in the UK. Medieval cooks were particularly fond of it. The brilliant yellow of saffron (from which Saffron Walden derives its name) and the reddish hue of saunders (powdered sandalwood) were used along with green spinach and parsley juice to colour soups in stripes or to give marbleised effects.4 So whilst adding colour to food may appear to some as an unnecessary cosmetic that is not in the consumer's interests, there can be no doubt that the judicious use of colour enhances the attractiveness of many foods. Some years ago a number of retailers tried introducing ranges of canned vegetables and fruits such as strawberries and peas without adding back the colour leached out by the heat processing. They were still trying to dispose of the unsold retur...

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