food additives

Food Additives

Definition

The food additive, according to the Food & Nutrition Board of the United States, is defined as “any substance, or mixture of substances, other than basic foods, which is found in the food ready for consumption following the various treatments connected with the production, processing, storage and packaging of the same ”. This definition does not refer to the difference between "voluntary additive" and "involuntary additive":

the first is what we commonly consider today, the second, instead, is represented by residues of various sizes that can derive from agro-zootechnical and technological treatments (it is therefore closer as a definition to that of a foreign substance).

At the end of the 1950s, experts from the International Commission Des Industries Agricoles (CIIA), on the occasion of the Como Symposium, advanced a different definition of food additive: "with the name of added chemical substances ( substances chimiques d'addition ) it is appropriate to include all the substances that are not, already at the origin, a constituent part of the food, but which are added to it in order to improve its appearance, smell, taste, consistency, shelf life, or that still could enter into the composition of food as impurities deriving from the application of the different manufacturing processes ". On that occasion, the hypothesis of an addition to this definition was also vented: “Vitamin C, cooking salt, vinegar, alcohol, sugar and other substances should not be considered as added chemicals. substances that have been considered themselves "foods" because of their nourishing or stimulating effect ". Excluding vitamin C - the addition of which must be declared as an additive even when its vitamin activity does not come into play, but only the antioxidant or maturing one - the resolution did not need any legal reminder.

According to the Italian legislation, chemical substances are considered as "substances without nutritional value or used for non-nutritional purposes, which are added at any stage of processing, to the mass or surface of food, to preserve the chemical, physical or chemical characteristics over time. physicochemicals, to avoid spontaneous alteration or to impart to them or favorably enhance particular characteristics of appearance, taste, smell or consistency ".

In Italy, voluntary additives are regulated by Ministerial Decree 31.3.1965 and subsequent amendments; the positive lists indicate, for each compound, the permitted cases and doses of use.

Today, even for food additives, the Italian standard is aligned with the directives of the European Economic Community (EEC).

Classification of food additives

The additives can be grouped according to the main function they perform in the food in which they are contained and are classified in:

COMPOUNDS AGAINST MICROBIAL ALTERATIONS (ANTISEPTIC, FUNGISTATIC, PRESERVATIVE ANTIFERMENTATIVES):

  1. Sorbic acid and some of its salts
  2. Benzoic acid and some of its salts
  3. Some esters of p-oxybenzoic acid
  4. Sulfur dioxide and sulphites
  5. Diphenyl, o-phenylphenol, thiabendazole (for surface treatments)
  6. Formic acid (limited cases, in some countries)
  7. Formal aldehyde, urotropin (limited cases)
  8. Nitrate and nitrite (sausages and similar, milk for cheese in some countries)
  9. "Food" acids (acetic, propionic and their alkaline salts)
  10. Lactic acid
  11. Carbon dioxide
  12. Some antibiotics (nisin, pimaricin, for limited cases)

COMPOUNDS AGAINST IRRANCIDIMENTS OF FATS AND FILLING:

  1. Antioxidants:

    • L-ascorbic acid and some derivatives
    • tocopherols
    • Alkyl gallates
    • Lecithin (most used as an emulsifier)
    • Butyloxyanisole (BHA)
    • Butyl oxytoluene (BHT)
    • Tert-butyl-hydroquinone or TBHQ (in USA)
  2. SYNERGISTS (SECONDARY, SEQUESTRIAN ANTIOXIDANTS):

    • Lactic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid and their alkaline salts
    • Phosphoric acid and its alkaline salts
    • Citric ester of mono and glycerides

COMPOUNDS AGAINST PHYSICAL AND / OR RHEOLOGICAL QUALITY ALTERATIONS (this is the science that studies the balances achieved in deformed matter due to stress):

  1. THICKENERS, GELIFICANTS, STABILIZERS:

    • Ortho-phosphate
    • Alginic acid and its salts (Na-, K-, CA-, NH4-)
    • Propylene glycol alginate
    • Carob and guar seed flour
    • Gum arabic, tragacanth, xanthan, tare
    • Modified starches and starches
    • Agar, carrageenan, furcellarano
    • Fruit pectins as they are or modified
    • Phosphates and polyphosphates
  2. EMULSIFIERS:

    • Lecithins
    • Salts of fatty acids
    • Mono and glycerides of fatty acids and their esters
    • Minor emulsifiers (stearoyl, lactylates, tartrate)
    • Turbidants (generally not allowed except in some countries)

ADDITIVES IN VARIOUS ACTION (as indicated by the Ministerial Decree of 14 April 1983)

  1. Flavor enhancers (monosodium glutamate)
  2. Coating agent (waxes, jellies, gums, vaseline and paraffins, coumarone-indene resins)
  3. Citric, tartaric, o-phosphoric, acetic, lactic acidifier
  4. Anti-caking agent (silica, calcium and magnesium salts)
  5. Leavening powder (citric acid, tartaric acid and its monopotassium salt, disodium pyrophosphate, sodium and ammonium bicarbonate, glucono-delta-lactone)
  6. Anti-foaming agent (dimethyl polysiloxane only for instant drinks for vending machines)
  7. Melting salts (citrates and poled)
  8. Flour treatment agent (sulphites, l-ascorbic acid, cysteine)
  9. Miscellaneous:

    • Iron sulfate and gluconate
    • Metatartaric acid
    • Sodium and potassium carbonates and / or bicarbonates
    • Calcium chloride, slaked lime and hydrated lime
    • Sodium hypochlorite, sodium hydrate
    • Citrates and polyphosphates

DYES

They can be divided into:

  1. natural
  2. Synthetics
  3. Caramel

FLAVORERS AND AROMA EXALTATORS

They can be divided into:

  1. natural
  2. Natural-identical
  3. artificial

NUTRIENTS:

  1. Amino acids
  2. Vitamins
  3. Mineral elements (iron, calcium, fluorine ...)

SWEETENERS OR SWEETENERS, SUGAR SUBSTITUTES:

  1. Sugars and the like (fructose, sorbitol ...)
  2. Sweeteners with high nutritional value (natural, synthetic)