Food additives are natural and synthetic substances added to food to improve the aroma, color, and taste of the food. Food additives have greatly promoted the development of the food industry and are often referred to as the soul of the food industry. Food additives contain both natural and synthetic substances.
Apart from improving the quality of the food they also contribute to anti-corrosion, processing technology, and preservation.
Antioxidants are used as food additives because they guard against food deterioration. Mostly Antioxidants belong to an important class of preservatives, unlike fungal spoilage or bacteria that is used as food additives. Preservatives also contain antioxidants such as tocopherols, and ascorbic acid (AA) as well as synthetic antioxidants such as tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), propyl gallate, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA).
Below are some of the functions of food additives.
1. Prevents Food Spoilage
Preservatives prevent food spoilage caused by microorganisms and antioxidants are added to prevent or delay food oxidative deterioration.
2. Improves Food Sense
Proper use of food additives such as coloring agents, bleaching agents, color retention agents, edible fragrances, and dairy additives such as thickeners in food additives, emulsifier in dairy milk, etc. can improve the sensory quality of food and provide better mouthfeel, appeal, and taste to customers.
3. Maintains Nutrition
Preservatives can help extend the shelf life of a product which is huge for both seller and buyer. You don’t want your current supply to expire too quickly and depending on the product consumers don’t want a product going bad in their pantry before they are to completely use it. This is of great significance to prevent malnutrition and other nutritional deficiencies and in improving people’s health by promoting nutritional balance.
4. Sufficient Supply
There are more than 20,000 kinds of foods in the market that we can choose from. Some foods use various additives to improve taste and give better appearance, preserve flavor, maintain coloring, and more. Not all food additives are created equal in function and quality but they are incredibly valuable in nearly every product in the market.
5. Contributes to Food Processing
The usage of filter aids, defoamers, coagulants, stabilizers, and natural gelling agents in food processing can be beneficial to food processing operations.
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