Is It True That Food Additives Cannot Be Eaten?

Mar 01, 2021

Food additives refer to chemically synthesized or natural substances added to food to improve food quality, color, aroma, and taste, as well as for the needs of anti-corrosion and processing technology. Food additives are divided into two categories: natural and chemically synthesized: natural food additives refer to natural substances obtained through extraction using metabolites of animals, plants, or microorganisms, etc.; chemically synthesized food additives refer to the use of chemical means. A substance is obtained by making an element or compound through a synthetic reaction such as oxidation, reduction, condensation, polymerization, and salt formation.

In many cases, if there are no suitable additives, processed food will only be more unsafe. Take instant noodles as an example. When the fat is left in the air for ten days, it will have a savory taste, while the shelf life of fried instant noodles is half a year, and it will not taste. why? Because it contains antioxidants. It is only natural for grease to oxidize in the air. If there is no way to curb the oxidation problem and produce a lot of oxidizing substances harmful to health, what is the value of eating?

For example, those preserved fruits and pickles kept in the supermarket for a long time, without the help of the two "natural preservatives" of sugar and salt, will be quickly destroyed by bacteria and mold.

Therefore, food additives can't be added randomly when they should not be added, nor can they be added when they should be added. After all, food safety is the most important thing. Microbes are always ready to compete with us for the nutrients in food, and the oxidative deterioration in the air. As many experts have said, processed foods without additives are generally very rare and unreassuring. 

In fact, in our daily life, many things are food additives: stinky powder, also known as ammonium bicarbonate, can make flour soft and puffed, and is used to make dough sticks and other foods; edible gypsum, also known as calcium sulfate, can make soy milk solidify It has become the tofu we often eat; baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, can ferment the flour to achieve a puffy and delicious effect. It is frequently used for steaming noodles such as steamed bread; food coloring: is commonly used in cakes, juices, and other foods Or drinks.

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