Food ingredients refer to food ingredients with a small amount in food formula. There are different definitions of "food ingredients". Some regard food ingredients and food additives as a parallel relationship; Some people think that food additives are a big concept, including food ingredients; Some people think that compound food additives are food ingredients; Others think that food ingredients refer to all food ingredients.

Food ingredients refer to recognized and safe edible substances, and refer to any substance that is used to produce and prepare a certain food and appears in the finished product, but does not include food additives. The amount of ingredients used in food processing is relatively large, generally above 3%, but the boundary between ingredients and food is relative. Sometimes an ingredient itself is a food (such as soy sauce), but it becomes an ingredient when it is used in some food processing. The boundary between ingredients and food additives is also relative. With the improvement of ingredients' function, the amount of ingredients added in food may gradually decrease and may develop into food additives. The development speed of international food ingredients industry is extremely fast. Different from condiments, food ingredients cover all food production applications, including snack food, soft drinks, children's food, convenience food and so on. The development of food ingredients can promote the development of the whole food industry (including condiments and food additives).

Food ingredients are processed from food raw materials and can be understood as semi-finished products in the food production process. One or more food ingredients and a small amount of food additives are combined and processed to finally get the finished food.