The World Health Organization (WHO) defines food additives as substances that are added to food to maintain or improve its safety, texture, freshness, taste or appearance.
Some of them have been used for centuries, such as salt. This has served throughout history to preserve food. Other food additives, on the other hand, were incorporated with the emergence of modern industry.
The use of food additives is justified, in principle, by a technological necessity. The first objective is to guarantee the correct conservation of food in terms of nutritional quality, or to improve its stability.
However, these compounds are also added to make the taste or presentation of some products more attractive. In any case, at least in theory, they should always respect the recommendations of specialized entities such as FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations).
Classification of food additives
Food additives have different origins. Some of them are extracted from plants, others from animals or minerals, and there is a group that is produced synthetically. Today, the industry uses thousands of these substances, which are added to food for specific purposes.
The WHO and FAO differentiate these compounds into three large groups:
Flavoring: those that are added to improve the flavor or fragrance.
Enzyme preparations: they are natural proteins that catalyze chemical reactions and cannot be present in the final food product.
Other additives: they are used to give color or sweeten.
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