Are food additives safe?

"Food additives are not harmful to humans as long as they are within the standards published by the health department." "For example, if you eat strawberry yoghurt, although there are some strawberry kernels in the yoghurt, the fact is that you don't eat a few strawberry kernels and you can make them," said Zhong Yan, director of the food division of Anhui Province's Quality supervision Bureau. "It's mainly strawberry essence added.""Currently, health authorities have issued a draft on further regulating the use of additives in food and have started soliciting public opinion," Zhong said.

In fact, as the product of the development of modern food processing industry, food additives have the function of improving the sensory indexes of food such as color, aroma and taste, and maintaining and enhancing the nutritional value of food. For example, the anticoagulants in table salt prevent salt particles from clumping, and the thickeners in milk increase the consistency of liquids. Experts once pointed out that "without food additives, there would be no modern food processing industry."

Zhong Yan told reporters that the "food additives production supervision and administration regulations", the main purpose is to standardize food additives production enterprises. For many food processing enterprises, the hope is that the need to mark on the ingredient list item, the less the better, because it can reduce the fear of consumers, for government regulators, is hope ingredients as detailed as possible, including the composition of the additives used in how many, should give consumers a understand, "this is the inevitable requirement on the safeguarding of consumers' right to know."