Definition of Food Additive

It is called as food additive To that substancethat although it does not constitute a food or has nutritional value, it will be deliberately added in a food or a drink in small quantities in order to modify its organoleptic properties, such as What texture, taste, color and smell, or failing that to improve your manufacturing.

It should be noted that in the last mentioned aspect of providing improvements to the product during its elaboration it is absolutely possible to achieve benefits in terms of texture of the same which in turn reports a gain in terms of the weight of the product itself.

As a consequence, people are food they enter us first through the eyes is that the industry Food is concerned with making them very attractive and nothing better than adding an additive that adds to that desire. For example, a strawberry jam with a muted color instead of a vibrant red, achieved thanks to the additive, would not be desired by the user at all. consumerOn the other hand, if its color explodes red, no one will hesitate to acquire it.

Another issue that also affects the addition of additives is economics, since the addition of preservatives, for example, contributes to making food last longer and consequently will be used more, can be priced more accessible.

On the other hand, additives will also be added because in all foods it is possible that they develop chemical reactions that directly affect their nutritional value, and even release compounds toxic. Between the microorganisms the most damaging is the one who can give course to the botulism, which is fatal poisoning from having consumed poorly preserved food. Meanwhile, the addition of antioxidant substances to cans of preserves helps a lot in the battle against the bacteria that triggers botulism.

Among the most common additives that are applied in the food industry are: flavorings, sweeteners, colors, thickeners, antioxidants and preservatives, among others.