The word “additive” can seem daunting, especially when it refers to your foods. The question always is, Why not eat foods from a natural and unadulterated source? But the truth is that food additives are used to help keep our foods fresh and make them even safer to eat. With a little bit of food education, you will soon find that additives are a lot less scary than you might think.
During the food manufacturing process, food is often exposed to all types of external conditions and can spoil due to mold, air, and different kinds of bacteria. Preservatives are added to foods to help maintain the quality and freshness of the foods being handled. This type of additive helps control contamination that can cause foodborne illness. One group of preservatives, called antioxidants, prevents fats and oils in a food from turning rotten and tainting the food’s flavors. Although preservatives are added to foods, they have no negative effect on your health; this type of additive keeps your food healthy while keeping your family healthy too.

Additives are also used to improve and maintain the nutritional value of your food. Vitamins and minerals are added to many foods to make up for those lacking in a person’s diet, or those lost in processing. Vitamins and minerals are also used to enhance the nutritional quality of a food. The enrichment process occurs when vitamins and minerals that were lost during processing are added back into the foods. Fortification refers to the process in which vitamins and minerals that were not naturally present in those foods are added to them. The fortification and enrichment processes have helped to reduce the amount of malnutrition in our country and worldwide.

Finally, food additives are used to improve taste, texture and appearance of your foods. Spices, natural and artificial flavors, and sweeteners help enhance a food’s taste. Food colors maintain or improve appearance while additives like stabilizers and thickeners give foods a widely desirable texture and consistency. These additives have absolutely no negative effects on your health; in fact, you won’t even notice them.

Food ingredients have always been used to preserve, blend, and flavor foods and have helped reduce many nutritional deficiencies among consumers. Additives also guarantee the availability of flavorful, nutritious, and safe foods for consumers. But the overall key to food additives is that they are strictly monitored by the FDA, more so than any other time in history. The FDA requires evidence that each substance is safe before it is added to foods. These additives are also constantly being reviewed as new scientific methods of testing improve. As a consumer, there is nothing to fear about additives in your foods.