Contents
Seven things you didn’t know about food additives
Nutrition
Although there are guaranteed foods that do not have additives, many others do and their consumption must be restricted
Did you know that there are guaranteed foods that do not have additives? Milk, dry pasta, eggs, honey or fresh fruit are some of them, which means that these products lack substances that modify the organoleptic or corrective characteristics. The use of certain additives allows food to last longer, which means that there is greater use of them and therefore prices can be lowered. For example, by adding substances to canned tomatoes that allow the pH to be lowered, its duration is prolonged over time, and it can be consumed in times when tomato production decreases.
«The theme of additive It is one of the issues that most worries the consumer, having generated many myths around them and that in essence convey the idea that they are dangerous. But the science is clear, all authorized additives (if they are not, they cannot be part of food products) are safe. What is recommended is to stay away from products that incorporate a large number of additives with sensory functions (to improve color, aroma, flavor …) because, in general, they are associated with products with a poorly recommended nutritional profile. In other words, a good product does not need coloring, flavorings, aromas … “, says Juan Revenga, dietician-nutritionist and biologist, who is part of the El CoCo team, the application of food product analysis , which offers information to understand what food additives are, great unknown to consumers, and to banish the myths around them from a objective perspective and based on evidence.
Seven things you didn’t know about additives
To help demystify and better understand what additives are and how they affect us, El CoCo, the food product analysis application, has produced this guide with basic information for the consumer:
1. They are substances that are intentionally added to food during its manufacturing or preparation process to change its characteristics, for example to intensify or maintain its color, texture, flavor, shelf life, etc.
2. All clear on the label. «It is mandatory to specify all the additives that a product contains on its label, either with its chemical name (for example, ascorbic acid) or with the European authorization code (in this case and following the same example, E-300) . Sometimes brands use the two nomenclatures on the same label, which often creates confusion among consumers, “say the experts.
3. What are they for. “We can classify additives into two broad categories: those that perform a technological function or related to food safety and shelf life (preservative, anti-caking agent, antioxidant, etc.), and cosmetics” that add, disguise or hide certain sensory qualities to the product final. The latter are usually common in products with a low nutritional profile, “they explain from El CoCo.
4. They are chemicals. Additives respond to a chemical formula, like any substance or food in the universe, including water itself (which could be correctly named ‘hydrogen protoxide’). «For example, if you found this list of ingredients in the composition of a food, would you eat this food? ” water, vegetable oils, sugars, starch, carotene (60), tocopherol (E306), riboflavin (01), nicotinamide, pantothenic acid, acetaldehyde, biotin, photic acid, ascorbic acid (E300), palmitic acid, stearic acid (E570), oleic acid, linoleic acid, malic acid (E296), oxalic acid, anthocyanins (El63), cellulose (E460), salicylic acid, fructose, purines, sodium, potassium (E252), manganese, iron, copper , zinc, calcium, phosphorus, chlorine, colors, antioxidant ‘, «we know that expressed in this way it can be difficult to understand or even identify, but this would be the« list of ingredients »of an apple just picked from the tree», they say from El Coconut.
5. And also many of them natural. «Between half and two thirds of additives are substances that exist in nature. For example, E-300 is nothing more than Vitamin C found in any citrus fruit, such as kiwi, orange or strawberries themselves “, they clarify.
6. Always authorized. All additives that are consumed within the European Union have undergone an authorization process by the competent body (EFSA), which also applies to those additives that may be present in food that comes from outside the EU.
7. Key function. Additives play a very important role in the supply of food and to some extent help to avoid food waste thanks to the effect of many of them related to conservation. Various additives are therefore used in order to extend and guarantee, from a food safety point of view, that process known as “from field to fork”.
«And no, we should not trust those lists of additives that circulate as a hoax on the network and that transfer such products an extreme danger. They are false. One of the most classic examples we have with the reviled E-330 that, present in many of these lists, refers to citric acid (naturally present in oranges or lemons). It is much better to learn to identify them reliably and with scientific rigor, that is the purpose of El CoCo ”, says Jean-Baptiste Boubault, co-founder of El CoCo.
In short, it is essential to banish the phobia that circulates on the internet by consulting reliable information from the hand of registered nutritionist experts. Always bearing in mind that for a healthy diet you have to restrict the consumption of products that include a high number of additives with sensory functions (to improve color, aroma, flavor …) such as industrial pastries or margarine, among others.