What is a food additive?

Anhui Zeguan Food Technology Co., LTD. To give you a detailed introduction, I hope to help you understand food additives.According to the provisions of China's Food Hygiene Law (1995), food additives are synthetic or natural substances added to food for the purpose of improving the quality of food color, aroma and taste, as well as for the needs of preservative and processing technology.At present, there are 23 categories and more than 2000 varieties of food additives in China, including acidity regulator, anti-coagulation agent, defoaming agent, antioxidant, bleach agent, leavening agent, coloring agent, color protection agent, enzyme preparation, flavoring agent, nutritive strengthening agent, preservative, sweetener, thickening agent, fragrance and so on.

Standard definition:

define

Definition of food additives is not the same countries around the world, the United Nations food and agriculture organization (FAO) and the world health organization (WHO) joint committee on food additives food regulations are defined as food additive is consciously general with a small amount added to the food, to improve the appearance and flavor of food and organizational structure or the nature of the storage of nutrients.According to this definition, food fortifiers for the purpose of enhancing food nutrition should not be included in the scope of food additives.

Joint Food Regulatory Committee of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Health Organization (WHO) :

A food additive is a nonnutritive substance that is added consciously and generally in small amounts to improve the appearance, flavor, structure, or storage properties of a food.

The European Union:

Food additive refers to any substance artificially added to food for technical purposes during the production, processing, preparation, handling, packaging, transportation or storage of food.

The United States:

Food additives are substances that are intentionally used to cause or expect to cause them, directly or indirectly, to become food ingredients or to affect food characteristics.

China:

According to the food hygiene law of the People's Republic of China article 54 and the measures for the administration of the food additives, health article 28, and the measures for the administration of the food nutrition fortifier health article 2 and article ninety-nine of the "food safety law of the People's Republic of China, China's food additives are defined as food additives, and means to improve food quality and color, aroma and taste as well as for corrosion protection, preservation and processing technology needs and any synthetic or natural substance put into food.

According to gb2760-2011 National Standard for the Use of Food Additives for Food Safety, food additives are defined as "artificial or natural substances added to food for the purpose of improving food quality, color, aroma and taste, as well as for the needs of preservative, preservation and processing technology.

"Nutritive fortifiers, spices for food, base substances in gum-based confectionery and processing AIDS for food industry are also included."

Characteristics of the

Food additives have the following three characteristics: one is to add to the material in the food, therefore, it is generally not alone as food to eat;Second, it includes both synthetic substances and natural substances.Third, it is added to the food for the purpose of improving food quality and color, aroma, taste as well as for the preservation, preservation and processing technology needs!

differentiate

Food additive ≠ illegal additives

When the public talks about food additives, more reasons are that the concepts of illegal additives and food additives are confused. It is obviously unfair to blame some illegal additives on food additives.General Office of the State Council about to crack down on illegal food notice to add behavior to strengthen the supervision of food additives in the requirements specification food additive production use: it is forbidden to use non-edible material production distribution of food additives, can not buy id is not standard, the source of food additives, investigate overspray, super limited, such as the behavior of the abuse of food additives, at the same time requirements formulated and published by the end of 2011, distribution of food additives, general safety standards and food additives labeling standards.

What needs to be cracked down on is the illegal addition in food, and what needs to be standardized urgently is the production and use of food additives.There are some problems with food additives, such as unknown sources, or improper materials. The most common problem is abuse.

Food additives manufacturers remind everyone that there is no need for excessive panic on food additives, with the upcoming national standards, the production and use of food additives will be more standardized.Of course, we should strengthen our awareness of self-protection and learn more about food safety. In particular, we should not buy food with too bright color, too strong taste or abnormal taste.