Food Additives:
What are they?
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What are food additives?
Food additives are substances added intentionally to foodstuffs to perform certain technological functions, for example to colour, to sweeten or to preserve.
Food additives are defined in legislation (EC Regulation 1333/2008, Article 3) as “any substance not normally consumed as a food in itself and not normally used as a characteristic ingredient of food whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packaging, transport or storage of such food results, or may be reasonably expected to result, in it or its by-products becoming directly or indirectly a component of such foods”.
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What are the functional classes for food additives?
Food additives can have various functions in a food. The functional classes are listed below:
Acid Emulsifying Salt Sweetener Emulsifier Preservative Packaging Gas Modified Starch Colour Acidity Regulator Anti-foaming Agent Bulking Agent Humectant Firming Agent Flour Treatment Agent Gelling Agent Carriers Propellant Antioxidant Stabiliser Flavour Enhancer Anti-caking Agent Glazing Agent Thickener Foaming Agent Raising Agent Sequestrant Contrast Enhancer It should be noted that the allocation of a food additive to a particular functional class does not preclude it from being used for other functions, for example, ascorbic acid can be an antioxidant or a flour treatment agent, depending on its use in a food.
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What does the E number mean?
The use of food additives is harmonised across the EU, and all approved additives are given an E number. E numbers have been used for years in order to communicate simply across the range of languages in the EU and to help consumers make informed choices. The presence of an E number should, therefore, be regarded in a positive, rather than a negative light.
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Where can I find a list of additives/E numbers?
You can access a list of approved additives on our website. They are listed alphabetically and numerically. Please note that the relevant legislation must be consulted for conditions for use and foods in which particular additives are permitted.
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How are food additives assessed for safety?
Whether additives come from a natural source or are man-made, the question of safety is central to the decision of whether or not an additive should be permitted in food. All additives must be authorised at European level before they can be used in food, a process which involves an assessment of their possible risks to health by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) or, prior to 2003, by the EU Scientific Committee on Food.
The evaluation of a food additive involves examination of the chemical structure and characteristics of the additive, including its specifications, impurities and the potential breakdown products in its intended use. Toxicological data is examined to identify and characterise possible health hazards. Animal testing is carried out using higher doses of the additive than would be used in food for humans. The data from these tests is used to determine safe levels of intake for consumers. In addition, data on the potential exposure of consumers from the intended uses in foods are needed in order to determine whether consumer intake could potentially be above the safe limit.
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What is an ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake)?
If an additive is deemed acceptable for food use, an ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) is normally set. The ADI is defined as “an estimate of the amount of food additive, expressed on a body weight basis, that can be ingested daily over a lifetime without appreciable health risk.”
The ADI is expressed on a milligram per kilogram bodyweight per day basis (mg/kg bw/day) and is used extensively by regulatory and advisory bodies throughout the world. In establishing an ADI, toxicological studies are used to identify the dose levels at which the additive causes effects on the health of test animals (usually rats or mice).
The highest level at which no adverse effect on the health of the animals is observed is called the NOAEL (No-Observed-Adverse-Effect-Level). An ADI is derived by dividing the NOAEL obtained from these studies, by an appropriate ‘uncertainty’ factor, which is intended to take account of differences between the animals on which the additive was tested, and humans, in order to reduce further still the possibility of risk to humans.
This uncertainty factor is commonly 100 (assuming that human beings are 10 times more sensitive than test animals and that the different levels of sensitivity within the human population is in a 10 fold range), but may be as much as 1,000 (if, for example, the toxic effect in animals is found to be particularly severe) or as low as 10 (where it has been found that humans are less likely than animals to be affected, based on actual data on the additive in humans).