FOOD ADDITIVES – WHAT ARE THEY?
For centuries, chemical compounds have been added to foods with the purpose of achieving special and or specific functions. Generally, basic foods contain no added chemical compounds (i.e., food additives), but as foods are processed into high-end quality food products in varieties, an increasing number of additives may be used. The Food Protection Committee of the Food and Nutrition Board defines food additives as: “a substance or mixture of substances, other than a basic foodstuff, which is present in a food as a result of any aspect of production, processing, storage, or packaging”. The term however does not include contaminants that find their way in foods by chance.
As the years turned into decades and gradually into centuries of rich history, the accompanying technological advancements in food processing have increased the variety and use of these additives. In our world today, there are well over 2,500 different additives that are intentionally added to foods to produce a desired effect. But even though the use of these additives is a well-accepted practice, and has and is still becoming popular amongst stakeholders in the food processing and production sectors, they carry some controversy, which some consumers may consider ‘trouble’.
THE DIFFERENT FOOD ADDITIVES THAT EXIST
These food additives come in various forms and types but can be divided into six major categories: preservatives, nutritional additives, flavoring agents, coloring agents, texturizing agents, and miscellaneous additives; each having their own benefits and ‘controversies’. In various African markets including the largest open market in West Africa, the Kejetia market, located in Ghana, coloring agents (also called coloring additives) can be seen on display by many of the local vendors and retailers, with each having their uses.
CONSUMER BEHAVIOR TOWARDS COLOR ADDITIVES
Even though the use of color additives is a well-accepted practice in the food industry, consumers have their own thoughts and very strong concerns about how safe they are to their nutritive and general health, and many myths go around about what color additives are, how they are made and ‘the things they can do to you when you eat them’. In a chapter written by Christine M. Brhun in (Mathias, 2022), it states that; “Artificial coloring is considered very dangerous by 39% of consumers – and it is not realistic to expect a question (about color additives) to lead to a ‘‘no concern’’ response by all respondents”. It is not shocking as the myths still stand tall and strong in many households and in many minds. The facts about these color additives however, tell their own tales and stories, which someday may live on in many households and in many minds, with a resonating theme, ‘color additives are safe’.
REGULATION OF THE USAGE OF COLOR ADDITIVES – THEN AND NOW
For centuries, every recorded civilization has employed some type of regulatory control over the safety of their food supply. The methods that were employed in these previous regulatory systems involved simple policing of the marketplaces. No country attempted to limit new items that could be introduced into the food supply, either from domestic sources or from other countries. Actually, new food substances were constantly introduced through in a number of ways; new agricultural commodities discovered locally, foods introduced from foreign countries, deliberate genetic selections to alter traditional food plants, and even functional substances of both natural and synthetic origins added to raw and processed foods to allow and promote improvements in the food industry. However, new food substances were removed from the market by enforcing laws, although rare. In Ghana, the Food and Drugs Authority was established ensures the regulation of food additives such as color additives. Even though the Food and Drugs Law was passed as far back as 1992, it was not until 26th August, 1997 that the first Board was inaugurated, which then became the Food and Drugs Authority in 2012.
COLOR ADDITIVES – TYPES AND HOW THEY DIFFER
Color additives can be either natural or synthetic. One of the earliest records of the use of food colorants is that of the coloring of wine as early as 400 BC. Until the discovery of the first synthetic dye in 1856 by Sir William Henry Perkins, mankind had been relying on pigments extracted from plants, animals, and minerals as color additives. Due to the superior properties of synthetic color additives, with respect to tinctorial strength, hue, and stability, as well as their availability and low cost, synthetic color additives are used more extensively than the natural color additives in the coloring of foods both by the local food producers and large industrial food companies. Over the years, a number of safety tests that have been done on synthetic color additives have led to the prohibition of the use of some of the synthetic color additives in food due to the discovery of possible toxic substances in them.
SOME MYTHS AND TRUTHS ABOUT COLOR ADDITIVES
Natural color additives that can be obtained from plant sources include; flavonoids, carotenoids, chlorophyll, betalains, and some other miscellaneous plant pigments (which can be obtained from sources such as the skin of red apples and grapes, carrots, saffron, green vegetables, and beet roots, etc.). They can however also be extracted from animal and insect sources which include; the heme pigment obtained from red meats and cochineal, a group of pigments obtained from female coccid insects, with a popular example of cochineal (carmine) which can be used in making jams and syrups because of its red color. Natural color additives have very few myths surrounding them, while many consumers think of them as only generally safe to use and consume (as they are ‘natural’), others also believe they have healing and disease curing potencies (most especially color additives obtained from leaves and vegetables). But do they really cure diseases and could they, or is it only a myth?
(Xu et al., 2023) reports that betalains, carotenoids, and flavonoids are major food colorants used in the food industry that have documented biological effects, particularly in the prevention and management of chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular disease, but no research has been done yet which supports the thoughts of natural color additives possessing disease-curing abilities.
Foods and beverages have been ‘‘artificially’’ colored with synthetic color additives for a long period of time. Theare are however myths that all synthetic color additives cause cancer and are therefore carcinogenic. Though some synthetic color additives have been banned in the past due to the presence of known carcinogens, such as D&C Green No. 5 (Bachrach, 1984).
Others also believe that natural color additives fade with time, and so is unreliable when storing for longer periods, as compared to synthetic color additives. The fact is that the chemical stability of natural color additives (naturally derived food pigments) is easily affected by pH, temperature, light, oxygen, solvents, enzymes, proteins and metallic ions, while synthetic color additives have a more stable chemical stability as compared to natural color additives (Silva, Reboredo and Lidon, 2022).
CONCLUSION
Color additives are generally safe and may have beneficial properties, however some color additives are harmful due to the compounds they may contain, especially when used in excess. Regulatory bodies such as the Food and Drugs Authority ensure the use of safe color additives in the processing and production of food products in the food industry, however, consumers must make informed choices and use them in moderation.
REFERENCES
1. Bachrach, E. E. (1984) D & C Green No. 5: judicial review of the constituents policy. Food Drug Cosmetic Law Journal 39(3), pp. 299–305
2. Mathias, D. (2022) Flavor Enhancers, Fit and Healthy from 1 to 100 with Nutrition and Exercise. doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-65961-8_33.
3. Silva, M. M., Reboredo, F. H. and Lidon, F. C. (2022) ‘Food Colour Additives: A Synoptical Overview on Their Chemical Properties, Applications in Food Products and Health Side Effects’, Foods, 11(3). doi: 10.3390/foods11030379.
4. Xu, Q. et al. (2023) ‘Annual Review of Food Science and Technology’, Annual Review of Food Science and Technology, 14, pp. 225–246. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-food-060721-.
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