1. Prevent deterioration

"For example, preservatives can prevent food spoilage caused by microorganisms, extend the shelf life of food, and also have the effect of preventing food poisoning caused by microbial contamination. Another example is antioxidants that can prevent or postpone the oxidative deterioration of food to provide food stability and storage resistance, while also preventing the formation of potentially harmful fats and oils auto-oxidizing substances. In addition, it can also be used to prevent enzymatic browning and non-enzymatic browning of foods, especially fruits and vegetables. These are of certain significance to the preservation of food.

2. Improve food sensory properties

Appropriate use of food additives such as colorants, color protectants, bleaching agents, flavors, emulsifiers, thickeners, etc. can significantly improve the sensory quality of food and meet people's different needs.

3, maintain nutritional value

Appropriate addition of certain food nutrition fortifiers that belong to the natural nutritional range during food processing can greatly increase the nutritional value of food, which is of great significance to prevent malnutrition and nutritional deficiencies, promote nutritional balance, and improve people's health.

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4. Convenient supply

Increase variety and convenience. There are already more than 20,000 kinds of foods on the market for consumers to choose from. Although most of these foods are produced through certain packaging and different processing methods, in the production process, some color, aroma, and taste Most of the complete products have added coloring, flavoring, flavoring and even other food additives to varying degrees. It is the supply of these numerous foods, especially convenience foods, that bring great convenience to people's lives and work.

5. Convenient food processing

The use of defoamers, filter aids, stabilizers and coagulants in food processing can be beneficial to food processing operations. For example, when glucono delta lactone is used as a tofu coagulant, it can be beneficial to the mechanization and automation of tofu production.

6. Other special needs

Food should meet the different needs of people as much as possible. For example, if people with diabetes cannot eat sugar, they can use non-nutritive sweeteners or low-calorie sweeteners, such as sucralose or aspartame, to make sugar-free food supplies.

What are the misunderstandings about food additives

Misunderstanding 1: Illegal additives = food additives

1. At present, the public mistakes many illegal additives for food additives, such as melamine, Sudan red, malachite green, etc., causing people to panic about food safety. In fact, these substances are not approved food additives, but Illegal additives.

2. Food additives have four characteristics: first, these substances are intentionally added in the food production process; second, the added substances must play a certain role in the food production and processing process; third, food additives are some natural Or chemically synthesized substances; fourth, my country implements a food additive allowable list system, and only food additives are listed. According to regulations, there are currently about 2,300 food additives allowed in my country, divided into 23 functional categories. And those illegal additives that have problems are not within the scope of the regulations.

3. In addition, as long as there is a problem with food safety, the word "toxic" is often used today. The excessive use of food additives is not necessarily a toxic food. Although excessive addition is illegal, the answer is not necessarily whether it will cause harm to the health of consumers, and it needs to be determined based on scientific evaluation data.

Misunderstanding 2 Food additives are not necessary

1. Food additives play an important function and role in the production and processing process. There is a very popular saying in the food processing industry that "there is no food industry without food additives".

2. It is known that diabetics cannot eat sugary foods, but many people especially like sweetness. Many foods are processed, and sweeteners are often added to the foods eaten by diabetics, which is harmless and satisfying diabetics. Demand. In the beverages we drink, emulsifiers are usually used to avoid food stratification. There are also the most common preservatives, which can control the growth of microorganisms in food and prevent food from spoiling. Nutritional fortifiers can increase the nutritional content of food, such as DHA added in milk powder. These examples all illustrate the necessity of food additives in food production and processing.

3. Then, how to ensure the safety of food additives in the food production process? First, the producer is required to provide necessary supporting materials. Secondly, there must be an experimental result report, that is, the use of food additives in the trial production process, which really proves that it can achieve the required functional purpose, and at the same time, open solicit opinions. Finally, it is necessary to compare whether other countries have used this food additive, and prove the necessity of using food additives from another perspective.

Misunderstanding 3 All additives are harmful

1. Food safety has become the most concerned issue. Therefore, safety is the most important element in the use of food additives. That is to say, the use of food additives should not bring any harm to the health of consumers. . In fact, the food additives permitted by national standards will basically not cause harm to the human body.

2. Food additives must undergo risk assessment. First of all, we must conduct animal experiments to find the maximum dose that has no harmful effects on animals. Through a certain safety factor, a safety factor of 100 times is usually used, that is, the safety result obtained from animals is divided by 100 times to obtain how many doses the population can eat per day. This dose is consumed by consumers every day throughout their lives, as long as it does not exceed this amount, it will not cause any health hazards.

Secondly, it is necessary to evaluate how many food additives may be consumed every day. This involves two aspects: on the one hand, it is necessary to calculate which foods contain food additives, on the other hand, it is necessary to consider the content of additives in the foods eaten. Through these two aspects of data, you can get how many food additives you may eat every day. Then compare with this threshold, if the daily amount of food does not exceed the allowed eating threshold, it is safe.

3. At the same time, our country has very strict management of food additives. First of all, government approval is required, including two aspects. Additives implement the allowable use list system. Entering the list must undergo administrative permission to prove the safety and technological necessity before it can be used as a food additive. At the same time, the production of food additives in my country must obtain a production license, and only qualified enterprises can produce food additives. Secondly, formulate standards, which clearly stipulate the approved food additives, which can be used, the amount of use, and the basic principles on which they are used. Third, the implementation of the permitted list system for the management of additives is a dynamic list. It is not that it is ignored after being included in the list, but a re-evaluation system is required. Enterprises need to use food additives reasonably in accordance with laws and regulations.

4. In addition, the food additive regulatory department is also monitoring the use of food additives, and consumers also monitor the use of food additives at any time.