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Food Additives can be used as ingredients to preserve, flavor, blend, enhance the texture, and color food. They play an important role in reducing serious nutritional deficiencies and promoting food safety.
Preservatives slow product spoilage caused by yeast, mold, bacteria, fungi, or exposure to air. In addition to maintaining the quality of the food, they help control contamination that can cause foodborne illness. One group of preservatives-antioxidants-prevents fats and oils, and the foods containing them, from becoming rancid or developing an off-flavor. Examples of preservatives include ascorbic acid, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and sodium nitrite.
Spices, natural and artificial flavors, and sweeteners are added to enhance the taste of food. Food colors maintain or improve appearance. Emulsifiers, stabilizers and thickeners give foods the texture and consistency consumers expect. Leavening agents allow baked goods to rise during baking. Some additives help control the acidity and alkalinity of foods, while other ingredients help maintain the taste and appeal of foods with reduced fat content.
Low-calorie sweeteners add a sweet flavor to foods without adding a significant amount of calories. Most low-calorie sweeteners are generally several hundred to several thousand times sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). While most do not contain any calories, those that do (e.g., aspartame) are used in very small amounts because of their concentrated sweetening power, and thus do not contribute a significant amount of calories.
Color additives are used in foods for many reasons: 1) to offset color loss due to exposure to light, air, temperature extremes, moisture, and storage conditions; 2) to correct natural variations in color; 3) to enhance colors that occur naturally; and 4) to provide color to colorless and "fun" foods.
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