Food Additives Branen, Davidson, Salminen, Thorngate III

According to the Food Protection Committee of the Food and Nutrition Board, food additives may be defined as follows:

"a substance or mixture of substances, other than a basic foodstuff, which is present in a food as a result of any aspect of production, processing, storage, or packaging. The term does not include chance contaminants"

Since prehistoric times, chemicals have been added to foods to perform special functions.

Although basic foods contain no additives, as foods are processed for conversion into a variety of products, an increasing number of additives are generally used. Technological advances in food processing have increased the variety and use of these additives. Today, more than 2500 different additives are intentionally added to foods to produce a desired effect. The use of these additives is a well-accepted practice but is not without controversy.

In this chapter, we explore some of the major benefits and risks of using additives. In subsequent chapters, each category of additives and some of the benefits and potential risks are explored in more detail.