Opinion Article - Journal of Food Technology and Preservation (2021) Volume 5, Issue 1

Current opinion of artificial food additives

Satyam Joy Padamam^*

Corresponding Author:

Dr. Satyam Joy Padamam
Department of Food Science
Carleton University in Ottawa
Ontario
Canada
E-mail: satyamroypadamam@gmail.com

Accepted date: 28 January, 2021

Citation: Satyam Joy Padamam. Current opinion of artificial food additives. J Food Technol Pres 2021;5(1):3.

Description

Since from many centuries, food additives are being used in several types of food. Our antecedents have used salt as preservative for food like meats, fish etc. Also, for increasing the flavor of food some of the herbs as well as spices have also been added into food. Now-a-days, there is a vital demand for the flavored, colorful, nutritious food by food consumers. This increase in demand became possible by food additives. Various ingredients are being used to prepare foods. FDA (Food and Drug Administration) contains over 3000 ingredients such as spices, salt, colors, vanilla, yeast, acrolein, alcohol, basil, bay leaves, bile salt, cacao, damiana leaves, elder flowers, formalin, garlic, gum karaya, hyssop, iodine, jasmine, kola nut, lactose, menthol, nutmeg, onion, peach leaves, quince seed, rose buds, rue, saccharin, starch, tamarind, vanilla, wood rosin, yeast, zedoary bark etc.

However, many food consumers bothered for food additives due to the fact that the names of those additives are unusual and considered them as compound chemical admixtures. Indeed, the food items are made up of compound admixtures which determine the values of nutrition, flavor as well as color. In India, the food additives are cautiously standardized by FSSA (Food Safety and Standards Authority) to assure that the food is eatable and safe. In this article, a general overview of artificial food additives is discussed. The main motto of this article is to make aware of artificial food additives and its uses.

In general, any substance added to food is called as food additive. Technically, any substance (which is safe to eat approved by the government) added to food for the processing, packaging, storing, treating of food resulting in affect the characteristics of food is known as “food additive”. Food additives are of two types: (a) Direct food additives, and (b) Indirect food additives. Direct food additives are the substances specifically used to add the texture to that food like xanthan gum used in bakery products etc. Indirect food additives are the part of substances of food used while storing, packing of food. Food additives are playing a tremendous role in preserving, flavoring, blending, and thickening of food and helps assure to meet the assumptions of food consumers by maintaining quality and nutritional values. Artificial food additives are a hot topic among the researchers as well as practitioners of food research communities. Gebhardt et al. have discussed the artificial food colorants and its sustainability [1]. The authors have described that anthocyanins were identified as most sustainable additives when compared to lycopene, carmine, and allura red. Waseeh et al. have discussed the effects of artificial food additives in Vietnam pond system culture [2]. The authors have evaluated the effects on efficiency of feedings, performance in growth of Anabas testudineus. They concluded that artificial food additives subtle the considered evaluations factors.

Conclusion

They also recommended that more findings are required to minimize the artificial food additive effects for better efficiency. Likewise, many recent enhancements are already developed and are being initiated day-by-day. With increase in demand of food, there is also requirement to improve and maintain the quality standards in using and preserving the food substances. There is also a need to perform research in resolving the problems of those which are still unresolved.

References

1. Gebhardt B, Sperl R, Carle R, et al. Assessing the sustainability of natural and artificial food colorants. J Cleaner Prod. 2020;260:120884.
2. Waseeh MA, Rahman AA, Khan NS. Effects of artificial food additives in Vietnam Koi, Anabus testudineus (Bloch, 1792) pond culture system. Int J Fisheries Aquatic Res. 2020;5(3):50-4.