Food additives refers to food manufacturers in the production of food in the process of adding some chemicals to food, used to change the color of food, smell, or adjust the taste of food and extend (preservatives, antioxidants), can play a role in improving the quality and nutritional value of food, improve the nature of the food sensory properties, to prevent the food from rotting and deterioration, to extend the shelf life of the food to facilitate the processing of food and improve the utilization of raw materials and other functions. However, some of them can cause cancer. However, some of them can cause cancer, for example, some of the substances added to many meat foods, in the stomach due to the interaction of protein, gastric acid, additives produced by nitrites, which can lead to chronic physiological lesions.　Food additives are chemical or natural substances used to improve the quality of food, extend the shelf life of food, facilitate food processing and increase the nutrient content of food. Food additives are chemical compounds or natural substances added to food to improve the quality of food color, aroma and taste, as well as for preservation and processing needs. At present, there are 23 categories of food additives in China, more than 2,000 varieties, including acidity regulator, anticaking agent, defoamer, antioxidant, bleaching agent, bulking agent, coloring agent, color protection agent, enzyme, flavor enhancers, nutrient enhancers, preservatives, sweeteners, thickening agents, spices and so on.

1. Help preserve, prevent deterioration

For example: preservatives can prevent food spoilage caused by microorganisms, to extend the shelf life of food, but also has to prevent food poisoning caused by microbial contamination. Another example: antioxidants can prevent or delay the oxidative deterioration of food to provide food stability and storage resistance, but also to prevent the formation of potentially harmful oils and fats auto-oxidizing substances. In addition, they can be used to prevent enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. These are of some significance to the preservation of food.

2. Improve the sensory properties of food

The color, aroma, taste, form and texture of food is an important indicator of food quality. Appropriate use of coloring agents, color protectants, bleaching agents, edible spices and emulsifiers, thickeners and other food additives, can significantly improve the sensory quality of food to meet the different needs of people.

3. Maintain or improve the nutritional value of food

In food processing, the appropriate addition of certain food nutrients belonging to the range of natural nutritional food fortification, you can greatly improve the nutritional value of food, which is important for the prevention of malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies, and to promote nutritional balance, and to improve people's health.

4. Increase the variety and convenience of food

Now the market has up to 20,000 kinds of food for consumers to choose, although the production of these foods are mostly handled through a certain packaging and different processing methods, but in the production project, some color, aroma, taste with the full range of products, most of the different degrees of coloring, aroma, flavoring and even other food additives. Additives. It is these many food products, especially the supply of convenience foods, to bring great convenience to people's life and work.

5. Favorable food processing, to adapt to the mechanization and automation of production

The use of defoamers, filter aids, stabilizers and coagulants in food processing can be conducive to food processing operations. For example, when using gluconolactone? lactone as a coagulant for tofu, it can be beneficial to the mechanization and automation of tofu production.

6. Meet other special needs

Food should meet the different needs of people as much as possible. For example, diabetics can not eat sugar, can be used without nutritive sweeteners or low-calorie sweeteners, such as sucralose or aspartyl phenylalanine methyl ester made of sugar-free food supply.

Now commonly used food coloring includes two categories: natural coloring and synthetic coloring. Natural pigments come from natural things, mainly extracted from plant tissues, but also include some pigments from animals and microorganisms. Synthetic pigments are organic pigments made by artificial chemical synthesis methods, mainly made from coal tar separated from aniline dyes as raw materials. In a long period of time Food additives declaration process[2]

In, because people do not recognize the harm of synthetic pigments, and synthetic pigments and natural pigments, compared with bright color, strong coloring power, stable and inexpensive and other advantages, many countries in the food processing industry in the general use of synthetic pigments. With the development of society and the improvement of people's living standards, more and more people have raised questions about whether the use of synthetic colors in food will cause harm to human health. At the same time, a large number of studies have pointed out that almost all synthetic colors do not provide nutrients to the human body, and some synthetic colors are even hazardous to human health. Eating fine snacks, fast food box lunch, sizzling hot dogs, glance at the beautifully printed packaged food on the nutritional composition table, you will find that each type of food additives in the ingredients. It is understood that the conversion of fat, refined grain products, salt, high fructose corn syrup, four ingredients are the most common in processed foods, these ingredients are harmful to human health. Some if the excess is also harmful, such as: citric acid, stevia glycosides, aspartame, sweeteners, Finnish white pigment, vanillin, ethyl malt phenol, potassium sorbate; basically no harm, as long as it's not added in excess.

Examples Food coloring - cochineal Water-soluble synthetic pigment, bright yellow light red, monochromatic varieties. Can be safely used for food, beverage, medicine, cosmetics, feed, tobacco, toys, food packaging materials such as coloring. Molecular Formula: C20H11N2O10S3Na3 Chemical Name: 1-(4-sulfo-1-naphthalene azo)-2-hydroxy-6,8-naphthalene disulfonic acid trisodium salt Converted fat Converted fat is mainly found in food products such as bakery muffins, crispy cookies, microwave popcorn, and french fries from fast food restaurants. According to recent studies, transformed fats are twice as harmful to the heart as saturated fats and are estimated to cause 30,000 to 100,000 premature deaths from heart disease each year. Starting in 2006, converted fats will be required to be listed in the Nutrition Facts table on packaging. If you choose refined grains such as white bread, white rice or white pasta over whole grains, your risk of heart disease increases by more than 30%. Foods that say they are "made from wheat flour or whole grains" or white bread with a sprinkling of oatmeal or brown syrup have the same increased risk of high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attack, insulin resistance, diabetes, or abdominal obesity as the original refined grains. Sodium is an essential ingredient for life, but what happens when you eat more salt than your body needs? The body retains more fluids to dilute the excess sodium in the bloodstream. This increases the volume of blood, making the heart beat harder; it also narrows veins and arteries, which can raise blood pressure. HIGH Fructose Syrup High fructose is widely used in frozen foods, as well as in whole grain breads, hamburgers, and muffins. It can also be added to beer, soft drinks, and even ketchup. Some researchers have suggested that this liquid sweetener may disrupt the body's metabolism and increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes.