Food technology is a branch of food science that addresses the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of food products. Bakery at the Faculty of Food Technology, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies The food technology room at Marling School in Stroud,

1. FOOD ADDITIVES
Lecture - 4

2. Introduction
• A food additive is a substance (or a
mixture of substances) which is added to
food and is involved in production,
processing, packaging and/or storage of
foods without being a major ingredient.
• Additives or their degradation products
generally remain in food, but in some
cases they may be removed during
processing. Food additives are defined in
various ways:

3. What are food additives?
• Food additives may be defined as
chemical substances which are
deliberately added to foods, in known
and regulated quantities, for the purpose
of assisting in the processing of foods,
preservation of foods or in improving the
flavor and texture or appearance of
foods.
• Food additives are substances added to
food to preserve flavour or improve its
taste and appearance.

4. Definition according to PFA
• As per PFA Act food additive is defined as
any substance not normally used as a
typical ingredient of foods whether or not it
has nutritional value; the intentional
addition of which to food for technological
Including organoleptic purpose in the
manufacturing, processing, preparation;
treatment, packing, packaging, transport
or holding of food results in it or its
ingredients becoming a component or
otherwise affecting characteristics of such
foods.

5. Functions of Food Additives
1. Enhances the shelf life of food.
2. Improves and maintains the nutritive value of
food.
3. Reduces the wastage and improves yield of the
product.
4. Facilitates the processing/preparation of food.
5. Improves colour and appearance of food.
6. Improves body and texture of food.
7. Improves aroma and taste of food.
8. Enhance the consumer’s acceptability of the
food.

6. Why use additives?
• …to keep high quality of food
• …to make the food look appealing
• …to give shape and structure
• …to prevent the growth of fungi, moulds
and yeasts
• …to prevent the oxidation of food
• …to give a sharp taste to foods

7. Classification of Food Additives
• They are classified into two ways
• (A) Intentional Food Additives
• These are those substances added to food
intentionally to improve product quality and
sensory properties.
• These are generally added to foods selectively
in carefully controlled conditions during
processing and in small permissible amounts
necessary to achieve the desired effects e.g.
Preservatives, antioxidants, emulsifying agents,
stabilizers, flavorings, colourants, nutrient
supplements etc.

8. • (B) Unintentional Food Additives - contaminants
• These are those additives which are not
deliberately added to foods but gain entry as a
result of operations inherent to production,
storage, processing or marketing.
• They find their way in food accidentally. Some of
the incidental additives are pesticides, toxic
metals, anti nutrients, heavy metals etc.
• It may cause health hazard and may also spoil
the food.

9. Classification of Food AdditivesBased
on Source
• They are natural, synthetic and nature identical
1. Natural
• They are derived from natural sources like
animals, plants, micro-organisms,extracts from
beetroot juice (E162), used as a colouring agent
and etc.
2. Synthetic
• They are chemically synthesized in laboratory,
produced synthetically and not found naturally,
such as nisin (E234), used as a preservative in
some dairy products and in semolina and
tapioca puddings.

10. 3. Nature Identical
• They chemically identical to those
obtained from natural sources but
synthesized artificially.
• synthetic identical copies of substances
found naturally, such as benzoic acid
(E210), used as a preservative;

11. Various Categories of Food Additives
• 1. Preservatives
• 2. Antioxidants
• 3. Appearance control agents – BVO, ester gum,
waxes, polishes etc
• 4. Coloring agents
• 5. Flavour enhancers
• 6. Emulsifiers and Stabilizers(Thickening agents)
• 7. Humectants – moisture control agents
• 8. Sugar substitutes and artificial agents
• 9. Nutrients supplement (vitamins, amino acids,
minerals, etc.)

12. • 10. Buffers – pH control agents – acids, alkalis
and salts
• 11. Leavening agents – yeast and chemicals
• 12. Propellants and gases
• 13. Oxidizing and reducing agents
• 14. Sequestering agents and chelating agents
• 15. Firming agents
• 16. Masticating substances
• 17. Anti-stick (release) and Anti-caking (free-
flowing) agents
• 18. Tracers

13. • 19. Anti-freeze agents
• 20. Bulking agents
• 21. Clarifying agents
• 22. Bleaching & maturing agents
• 23. Acidulants
• 24. Foaming (aerating) and Antifoaming
agents.

14. Considerations Required in use of
Food Additives
• The following criteria/guidelines are required to be taken
care of before the use of any additives.
• 1. It must be ascertained that the real need exists for the
use.
• 2. It does not cause any adverse physiological and
harmful effects even upon regular consumption for a
prolong period i.e. the food additives must be safe/
harmless.
• 3. It should not reduce/destroy the nutritive value of food.
• 4. It should confirm the agreed specifications, where
possible legislation should define permissible maximum
quantities of a given additive.

15. • Any food additive should be used at
minimum level necessary to produce the
desired effect, additives or their
degradation products generally remain in
food but in some cases they may be
removed during processing.
• The limit of addition should be established
based on the following factors:

16. • 1. The estimated level of the consumption
of food for which an additive is proposed.
• 2. Minimum level which in animal studies
exhibit minimum deviation from the normal
physiological behaviour.
• 3. An adequate margin of safety to reduce
to a minimum any hazard to health in all
groups of consumers.

17. Safety Aspects of Food Additives
• It is necessary to know in advance how safe the food
additive is before permitting its use in food products.
• ADI of Food Additives
• The ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) is the amount that can
be consumed on a daily basis for a life time without
appreciable risk. Its unit is mg/kg body weight / day.
• GRAS substances
• GRAS – Generally Recognized as Safe
• It is a device which US FDA has adopted to give
endorsement to those substances which have had many
years of use and for which there is no evidence of any
harmful effects.

18. Tyes of additives
• Colours
• Flavourings
• Emulsifiers, Gelling Agents, Thickeners and
Stabilisers
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Anti-Caking Agents
• Antioxidants

19. Colours
• A color additive, as defined by regulation,
is any dye, pigment, or other substance
that can impart color to a food, drug, or
cosmetic or to the human body. Color
additives are important components of
many products, making them attractive,
appealing, appetizing, and informative.
• Colour is the first sensory quality by which
foods are judged; food quality and flavour
are closely associated with colour.

20. • Colour powerfully influences the consumer’s
ability to identify the flavour and quality. Colour is
the general name of the all sensations arising
from the activity of the retina of eye. Colour is
important to many foods, both that are
unprocessed and manufactured.
• colour plays an important role in food
acceptability. The colours of foods are result of
natural pigments or of added colours. Colour
compounds are a unique class considering their
structural diversity and extremely complex
chemical and physical properties.

21. Importance of Food Colours
• 1. To overcome the damage to the appearance caused
by processing and to preserve product identity
• 2. To ensure colour uniformity of food products that
naturally vary in colour.
• 3. To intensify the colours of certain manufactured foods
• 4. To help protect flavour and light sensitive vitamins
during storage by a sunscreen effect.
• 5. To serve as a visual indication of quality.
• 6. To give colour to certain foods such as sugar
confectionery, soft drinks, sauces, ice lollies and soft
drinks, this would otherwise be virtually colourless.

22. Classification of Food Colours
• Colours added to food are regulated as
food additives. In foods, colouring matter
means those substances that when added
restores or adds the colour in foods.
Synthetic colourants used commercially
are also known as certified colour
additives. The added colourants can be
classified as:

23. • A) Natural Colours: Natural colourants are
those that are extracted from animals,
vegetables, fruits, minerals and spices
used to colour foods. e.g. carotenoids from
annatto, paprika, saffron, anthocyanins,
caramel, chlorophyll and turmeric.
• Carotenoids are used the most followed by
the red pigment and brown coloured
caramels.

24. • I. Anthocyanins
• Anthocyanins are the water soluble compounds
responsible for the red to blue colour of variety of fruits
and vegetables. It can be derived from various sources
including grapes, redcurrants and blackcurrants,
raspberries, strawberries, apples, cherries, red
cabbages, bringle. They provide orange, red, blue, violet
and magenta colours.
• The use of anthocyanins dates back to antiquity as
Romans used highly coloured berried to augment the
colours of wine.

25. • II. Carotenoids
• Carotenoids are widely spread natural pigments
in plants and animals. It is estimated that nature
produces some 3.5 tonnes of carotenoids every
second. Over 600 different carotenoids have
been identified and many of these are present in
our diet.
• They provide natural yellow, orange or red
colours of many food as well as being used
extensively non-toxic natural or nature-identical
colorants. Chemically the carotenoids are
aliphatic or alicyclic members of terpene group.

26. • B) Nature identical synthetic colours: These are
synthesized in the laboratories and a very limited range
is available.
• C) Artificial colours: These are two types FD and C dyes
and FD and C lakes. Dyes are water-soluble compounds
that produce colour in solution. Lakes are made by
combining dyes with alumina to form insoluble
colourants. Coal tar is available in wide range of colours.
Indigocarmine is an example of synthetic colour.
• D) Inorganic colours: PFA prohibits use of inorganic
colour except titanium dioxide, which is permitted in
chewing gum (Max limit 1.0 %).

27. Food Colours Permited by FSSA
• Natural colouring matter which may be used – Except as
otherwise provided in the rules the following natural
colouring principles whether isolated from natural colours
or produced synthetically may be used in or upon any
article of food.
• a) Carotenoids
• b) Chlorophyll
• c) Riboflavin (Lactoflavin)
• d) Caramel
• e) Annatto
• f) Saffron
• g) Curcumin or turmeric

28. • Addition of inorganic matter and pigments
prohibited- Inorganic colouring matters
and pigments shall not be added to any
article of food; Provided that chewing gum
may contain Titanium dioxide – (food
grade) up to a maximum limit of 1 per
cent.

29. Colours
• Food look more appealing
• Food cooked or processed for sale, they
lose their natural colour
• They cause hyperactivity

30. Colours E100-199
Class Examples Use Origin Functions
Natural Chlorophyll
(E140)
Carotene
Cochineal (E120)
Caramel
Tinned veg
Soft drinks
Red jelly
Brown sauce,
gravy
Plants
Carrots
Cactus insects
Heated carbs.-
Caramelisation
•Improve
appearance of
food
•To replace
colour lost in
processing.
•To satisfy
consumer
expectations.
•To give colour
to food that
would be
colourless
Synthetic
Artificial
Tartrazine -
Yellow (E120)
Red (E128)
Green (E142)
Amaranth -
purply-red
(E123)
Soft drinks
Sausages
Sweets
Blackcurrant
products
All made from
coal tar
Colourings are not permitted in fresh meat, fish, poultry, fruit, veg or baby
food.

31. Tyes of additives
• Colours
• Emulsifiers
• Flavourings
• Gelling Agents, Thickeners and Stabilisers
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Anti-Caking Agents
• Antioxidants

32. What are emulsifiers?
• An emulsifier is a molecule with one
hydrophobic head (oil-friendly) and one
hydrophilic end (water-friendly)
• oil-in-water emulsion -oil droplets that
are dispersed in water
• water-in-oil emulsion- droplets of water
droplets that are dispersed in oil

33. • Emulsifiers can be man-made or naturally
occurring. Many emulsifiers used today are of a
naturally derived variety called hydrocolloids.
• Hydrocolloids include emulsifiers made from
plants, animals and aquatic sources.
• Plant-based hydrocolloids include locust bean
gum, carrageenan, pectin, and starch,
• while animal-sourced varieties including
chitosan made from crustacean shells.
• Hydrocolloids, like xanthan gum, can also come
from microbial sources, and even food
products themselves—mustard, oil, salt, egg
yolk and vinegar—can serve as emulsifiers.

34. • Commonly used emulsifiers in modern food production
include mustard, soy and egg lecithin, mono- and
diglycerides, polysorbates, carrageenan, guar gum,
gellan gum and canola oil.
• Lecithin in egg yolks is one of the most powerful and
oldest forms of an animal-derived emulsifier used to
stabilize oil in water emulsions, for example, in
mayonnaise and hollandaise sauce.
• A class of plant-based emulsifiers known as mono-
diglycerides and their derivatives account for about 75%
of the world’s production of emulsifiers. These typically
come from palm or soya oil. Lecithin, often derived from
soy, canola, and sunflower oils, is also a commonly-used
emulsifier.

35. Products that use emulsifiers
• Emulsifiers are used in food production.
Bread, chocolates, margarine, and frozen
confectionaries like ice cream.
• You can find emulsifiers in plenty of
prepackaged and processed foods,
including mayonnaise, meats, salad
dressings, peanut butter and other nut
butters, shelf-stable frostings, cookies,
crackers, creamy sauces, breads, baked
products and ice cream.

36. Why use emulsifiers?
• emulsifying agent keeps the mixture
stable and prevents the oil and water
from separating into two layers
• In other words food emulsifiers act as
an interface between the conflicting
components of food.
Without emulsifier with emulsifier

39. examples
• Egg Yolk,Honey,Mustard,Soy lecithin
• E492 Sorbitan tristearate
• E482 CSL Calcium Stearoyl Di Laciate
• E491 Sorbitan monostearate
• E475 PolyGlycerol Ester (PGE)s
• E474 Sucroglycerides
• E1414 Acetylated starch
• The most commonly used - lecithin
(E322) & mono- and di-glycerides of
fatty acids (E471).

40. Tyes of additives
• Colours
• Emulsifiers
• Flavourings
• Gelling Agents, Thickeners and Stabilisers
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Anti-Caking Agents
• Antioxidants

41. Flavourings
• Flavouring, is any of the liquid extracts,
essences, and flavours that are added to
foods to enhance their taste and aroma.
• They can be produced in different ways
such as by extraction from plants or from
other material of vegetable, animal or
microbiological origin. Flavourings can
also be synthesised or obtained through a
variety of different processes.

42. Flavourings
• An imitation of the flavour of a known
food
• Creative Flavourist
• Possibility of alergies
• Citric acid

44. Flavourings (No E numbers)
Classes Examples Use Origin Functions
Natural Sugar
Salt
Spices
Herbs
Jam, tinned
beans, cereals.
Cheese, butter,
convenience fds
Meat products,
sauces, stock
cubes
Cane, beet,
fruit
Sodium
chloride
Rock or sea
Root, seeds
and leaves of
plants
•To add
flavour to
food
•To replace
flavour lost
in
processing.
•To enhance
food flavour
Artificial Ethyl acetate
Amyl acetate
Benzaldehyde
Maltol
Rum flavour
Pear flavour
Cherry flavour
Fresh baked
smell
Chemical rxn.
heating acetic
acid and ethyl
alcohol
Tree Bark
Flavour
Enhancers
E600-699
Monosodium
Glutamate
E621
Chinese food,
soup, sauces,
stock cubes
Glutamic acid
an amino acid

45. TYPES OF FLAVOURING SUBSTANCES
• Natural flavoring
substances- Vanilla extract is
obtained from vanilla pods
• Nature-identical flavoring
substances
• Artificial flavoring
substances

46. Tyes of additives
• Colours
• Emulsifiers
• Flavourings
• Gelling Agents, Thickeners and
Stabilisers
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Anti-Caking Agents
• Antioxidants

47. Gelling Agents
• Extracted primarily from natural
substances, stabilizers, thickeners and
gelling agents are approved direct
additives incorporated into foods to
provide structure, viscosity, stability and
other qualities, such as maintaining
existing color.

48. Functions
• Thickeners range from flavorless powders
to gums and are chosen for their ability to
work in a variety of chemical and physical
conditions. Variables affecting choice of
thickener include pH, frozen state, clarity
and taste. Starches, pectin and gums are
the most common commercial thickeners
used in soups, sauces and puddings.

49. • Stabilizers are substances that increase
stability and thickness by helping foods
remain in an emulsion and retain physical
characteristics. Ingredients that normally
do not mix, such as oil and water, need
stabilizers. Many low-fat foods are
dependent on stabilizers. Lecithin, agar-
agar, carrageenan and pectin are common
in ice cream, margarine, dairy products,
salad dressings and mayonnaise.

50. • Gelling agents also function as stabilizers
and thickeners to provide thickening
without stiffness through the formation of
gel in jellies, jams, desserts, yogurts and
candies. Gums, starches, pectin, agar-
agar and gelatin are common gelling
agents.

51. Gelling Agents, Thickeners and Stabilisers
• To give shape and structure
• To make food thicker
• To maintain the physical and textural
properties of foodstuffs

52. Gelling Agents, Thickeners and Stabilisers
• Stabilisers prevent ingredients from
separating again, e.g. locust bean gum
(E410).
• Gelling agents are used to change the
consistency of a food, e.g. pectin (E440),
which is used to make jam.
• Thickeners help give food body, e.g. can
be found in most sauces.

53. Tyes of additives
• Colours
• Emulsifiers
• Flavourings
• Gelling Agents, Thickeners and Stabilisers
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Anti-Caking Agents
• Antioxidants

54. Preservatives
• A preservative may be defined as any e
substance that prevent or retard
deterioration when added to food and
drinks. It may inhibit or retard changes in
appearancer, odour, flavor and nutritive
value.
• They inhibit the contamination/ growth of
microorganisms such as yeasts, bacteria,
molds or fungi in foods and drinks.

55. Importance of preservatives
Food preservatives are essential for many
reasons. They are used to:
• o Maintain consistency and texture of
foods
• o Improve or retain nutritional properties
• o Delay spoilage
• o Enhance flavors, textures, and color

56. Preservatives
• Fungistatic in action
• Prevent the growth of fungi, moulds and
yeasts
• Control the spread of bacteria
• Alfatoxins are toxic and the most
carcinogenic substances known

57. Preservatives E200-E299
Classes Examples Use Origins Functions
Natural Sugar
Salt
Vinegar
Alcohol
Smoke
Jam, sweets
Bacon, pickles
Pickles, chutney
Fruit, cake
Fish, meat, cheese
Beet/cane
Rock, sea
Fermentation
Fermentation
Burning wood
•Prevents
spoilage by
preventing
microbial
growth.
•Extend shelf
life.
•Prevents
food
poisoning.
•Reduces
waste.
•Greater
variety foods
available
Artifical Sulphur
dioxide
(E220)
Sorbic
acid
(E200)
Diphenyl
Sausages, fruit
juice, dried fruit &
veg.
Soft fruit, fruit
yoghurt, processed
cheese.
Citrus fruit, bananas
Made in labs
Not permitted in baby foods

58. Tyes of additives
• Colours
• Emulsifiers
• Flavourings
• Gelling Agents, Thickeners and Stabilisers
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Anti-Caking Agents
• Antioxidants

59. • Sugar substitutes are those substances
that are used like sugars for sweetening,
but are metabolized without the influence
of insulin. Important sugar substitutes are
sugar alcohols sorbitol, xylitol and
mannitol and to acertain extent fructose.

60. Classification of Sweeteners
• Sweeteners can be divided into two main groups: bulk
and intense sweeteners:
• Bulk sweeteners conferring body and texture to foods,
are completely metabolized by the body and provide an
important part to our energy. They are also referred to as
nutritive or calorie sweeteners.
• Intense sweeteners are generally not metabolized by the
body, and are excreted unchanged and used at very low
levels in foods, hence are referred to as non- nutritive or
non-calorie sweeteners. Unlike bulk sweeteners, these
are generally not metabolized by the body and are
excreted unchanged.

61. Bulk sweeterns (Nutritive)
Sugars (refined sugars, sucrose, fructose,
glucose, dextrose, maltose, etc.)
Sugar replacements/ polyols/sugar alcohols
(sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, etc.
Intense sweeteners (Non-nutritive)
Natural of plant origin (glycyrrhizin,
steviosides, thaumatin)
Synthetic(aspartame, acesulfame-K,
saccharin, sucralose, cyclamate, etc.)

62. Sweeteners
• Most important flavouring substance
• Source of energy
• Possibilty health problems
• Sugar free sweets and drinks all contain
sweeteners
• Saccharin and aspartam are
carcinogenic

63. Sweeteners E900-E999
Class Examples Use Origin Functions
Natural Fructose
Sucrose
Glucose
syrup
Tinned peas
Biscuits,
sweets,
tinned fruit
Tinned fruit,
jelly
Fruit
Sugar beet &
sugar cane
Fruit & honey
To sweeten
food
Artificial Aspartame
E951
“Nutrasweet,
Canderel”
Saccharine
E954
‘Hermesetes’
Diet drinks
Sweetener
Diet drinks
Sweetener
Dipeptide
(aspartic acid+
phenyalanine)
Coal tar
Used in low
calorie /
diabetic
food &
drinks
Bulk
Sweetners
Sorbitol
Mannitol
E965
Diabetic food,
sugar free
food
Sugar free
gum, ice cream
Lichens
Lichens
Sorbitol used
in diabetic
food as it
does not need
insulin

64. Tyes of additives
• Colours
• Emulsifiers
• Flavourings
• Gelling Agents, Thickeners and Stabilisers
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Anti-Caking Agents
• Antioxidants

65. Anti-Caking Agents
• anti-caking agents are anhydrous
compounds that are added in small
amounts to dry foods to prevent the
particles caking together and ensure the
product remains dry and free-flowing.

66. Anti-Caking Agents
• added to allow them to flow
• vending machine powders, milk and
cream powders, grated cheese, baking
powder, instant soup powders, table
salt,…

67. Anti-caking agents
Anti-caking agents ensure free movement or flow of
particles, e.g. in dried milk or table salt.
Anti – foaming agents
Anti-foaming agents prevent or disperse frothing, e.g. in
the production of fruit juices.

68. Tyes of additives
• Colours
• Emulsifiers
• Flavourings
• Gelling Agents, Thickeners and Stabilisers
• Preservatives
• Sweeteners
• Anti-Caking Agents
• Antioxidants

69. Antioxidants
• Chemicals in the food expose to oxygen in
the air
• Use to slow the rate of oxidation
• Phosphoric acid is used in beers and
vegetable oils, it causes diarrhea.

70. Antioxidants E300-399
Classes Examples Use Origins Functions
Natural Ascorbic acid
Tocopherol
(E306)
Fruit drinks
Vegetable oils
Fruit & veg.
Nuts & seeds
Prevents
oxidation
where food is
spoiled by
reacting with
oxygen
Artificial BHA (E320)
BHT (E321)
Stock cubes,
cheese spread
Chewing gum
Made in lab
BHA and BHT not permitted in baby food

71. • Thanks