Latest list of food additives

With the progress of natural science, the types of food additives are increasing year by year. According to the latest statistics, there are 22 categories and nearly 2000 varieties, including 1000 kinds of spices. According to Appendix E of Hygienic Standard for the Use of Food Additives, the functions of food additives are classified as follows: acidity regulator, anti-caking agent, defoamer, antioxidant, bleaching agent, leavening agent, alkaline substances in gum sugar, colorant, color fixative, emulsifier, enzyme preparation, flavor enhancer, flour treatment agent, film coating agent, humectant, nutrition enhancer, preservative, stabilizer and coagulant, sweetener and thickener.

1. acidity regulator. Acidity regulator, also known as pH regulator, is a substance used to maintain or change the pH value of food. It mainly includes acidifier, alkali and buffer salt needed for food control. Acidifier has many functional characteristics to improve food quality, such as changing and maintaining the acidity of food and improving its flavor; Enhance antioxidant effect and prevent food rancidity; Complexing with heavy metal ions can prevent oxidation or browning reaction, stabilize color, reduce turbidity and enhance gel properties. There are 18 kinds of acidity regulators approved for use in China, such as citric acid, lactic acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, metatartaric acid, phosphoric acid, acetic acid, hydrochloric acid, adipic acid, fumaric acid, sodium hydroxide, potassium carbonate, sodium citrate, potassium bicarbonate, monosodium citrate and tripotassium phosphate.

Acidity regulator can not only adjust the pH value of food, control acidity and improve flavor, but also has many other functional characteristics. Its effective application is mainly controlled by the required characteristics of food, and organic acids and buffer salts are usually the main ones. Many organic acids are safe and widely used because they are normal components of food or participate in the normal metabolism of human body.

2. Anti-caking agent. Anti-caking agent, also known as anti-caking agent, is a substance used to prevent granular or powdery food from gathering and caking, and to keep it loose or free flowing. Its particles are fine, loose and porous, and its adsorption is strong. Easy to absorb moisture, grease, etc. This leads to caking, so the food can remain in a powder or granular state. At present, there are five kinds of anti-caking agents licensed in China: potassium ferrocyanide, sodium aluminosilicate, tricalcium phosphate, silica and microcrystalline cellulose.

3. Defoamer. Defoamer is a substance that reduces surface tension and eliminates foam in food processing. In the process of food processing, such as fermentation, stirring, boiling and concentration, a large number of bubbles will be produced, which will affect the normal operation and must be eliminated or prevented in time. Defoamers can be roughly divided into two categories: one can eliminate bubbles, such as ethanol; The other can inhibit the formation of bubbles, such as emulsified silicone oil. There are seven kinds of defoamers allowed to be used in China, such as emulsified silicone oil, higher alcohol fatty acid ester complex, polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene pentaerythritol ether, polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene amine ether, polyoxypropylene glycerol ether, polyoxyethylene polyoxypropylene glycerol ether and polydimethylsiloxane.

4. Antioxidants. A substance that can prevent or delay oxidative decomposition and deterioration of oil or food components and improve food stability. The manifestations of oxidative deterioration of food ingredients, such as rancidity, fading, browning and vitamin destruction of foods rich in oil. The use of antioxidants can not only prolong the storage period and shelf life of food, but also bring good economic benefits to producers and distributors, and also bring consumers a better sense of security.

5. bleach. Bleach is a kind of substance that can destroy and inhibit food coloring factors, make them fade or prevent food browning. It can be divided into oxidative bleaching and reductive bleaching. Bleach can not only improve the color of food, but also has many functions such as bacteriostasis, which is widely used in food processing. Except for a few varieties such as benzoyl peroxide used as flour treatment agent, oxidative bleaching agent is rarely used in practice. As for hydrogen peroxide, it is only allowed to be used for fresh-keeping of raw milk and bagged dried tofu in some areas of China, and it is not used as an oxidative bleaching agent.

6. leavening agent. Adding leavening agent in food processing can make the product cost trigger the formation of dense porous structure, so that the product has fluffy, soft or crisp substances. It is added to wheat flour, the main raw material for baking food, which is decomposed by heat during processing, producing gas, making dough germinate and forming dense porous tissue, thus making the product have a fluffy, soft or crisp substance. It can be divided into alkaline leavening agent and compound leavening agent. The leavening agent is mainly used in the production of baked goods, which can not only improve the sensory quality of food, but also be beneficial to the digestion and absorption of food. Today, it is of certain importance to develop instant food and emphasize its nutritional function.

7. Basic substances in gum sugar. It is a substance that endows gum with foaming, plasticity and chewing resistance. Generally, it is mainly composed of natural rubber, synthetic rubber and other polymer colloidal substances, plus softeners, fillers, antioxidants, plasticizers and so on.

8. Colorants. Colorants are substances that make food color and improve food color, which usually include edible synthetic pigments and edible natural pigments. Edible synthetic pigments mainly refer to organic pigments prepared by artificial chemical synthesis. At present, almost all the synthetic pigments allowed to be used in the world are water-soluble pigments. In addition, the permissible edible synthetic pigments also include their respective lakes. Lake is a special colorant, which is made of water-soluble pigments deposited on an approved insoluble substrate (usually alumina). There are amaranth, carmine, erythrosine, magenta, seductive red, lemon yellow, sunset yellow, brilliant blue, indigo and their respective aluminum lakes, as well as 22 kinds of acid red, β-carotene, sodium copper chlorophyllin and titanium dioxide.

Recently, due to the safety problem of edible synthetic pigments, the varieties actually used in various countries have gradually decreased. But at present, the varieties widely used in various countries are very safe. Edible natural pigments come from natural things, most of which are edible resources. There are 66 kinds of edible natural pigments approved for use in China, which are organic colorants obtained through certain processing methods. Mainly extracted from plant tissues, including pigments from some animals and microorganisms, there are many varieties. But their pigment content and stability are generally not as good as those of synthetic products. However, people have a higher sense of security than synthetic pigments, especially natural pigments from fruits, vegetables and other foods. Therefore, it has developed rapidly recently, and more and more varieties and dosage are allowed in various countries. In addition, some people have recently classified synthetic organic pigments such as β -carotene with the same chemical structure as those found in nature as the third kind of food pigments, that is, natural equivalent pigments.

9. Fixing agent. Color fixative, also known as color developer, is a kind of substance that can react with color-developing substances in meat and meat products, so that it will not be decomposed and destroyed during food processing and preservation, and it will show good color. This is mainly due to the combination of nitric oxide produced by nitrite with myoglobin and hemoglobin in meat to produce a bright red nitrosohemoglobin and nitrosohemoglobin. Nitrite has certain toxicity, especially it can react with amines to produce nitrosamines, a strong carcinogen, so people have been trying to choose a suitable substance to replace it. So far, there is no substitute that can protect color, inhibit bacteria and enhance the flavor of meat products. Weighing the pros and cons, all countries strictly control the use on the premise of ensuring safety and product quality. Ascorbic acid, isoascorbic acid, nicotinamide, etc. It can not only promote color protection (color protection assistant), but also inhibit the formation of nitrosamines with ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol, so it is often used with color protection agent.

10. emulsifier. Emulsifier is a kind of substance that can improve the surface tension of each phase in emulsion and form a uniform dispersion or emulsion. It can stabilize the physical state of food, improve the food organization structure, simplify and control the food processing process, improve the flavor and taste, improve the food quality and prolong the shelf life. Emulsifiers are mainly used in baking food and starch products, ice cream, margarine, chocolate, candy, chewing gum, vegetable protein drinks and emulsified essence in food processing. Emulsifier is a kind of food additive with high consumption. There are many kinds of food additives licensed in various countries, and 30 kinds are approved for use in China.

1 1. Enzyme preparation. Biological products with special catalytic function directly extracted from edible or inedible parts of animals or plants, or used in food processing through traditional or transgenic microorganisms. Protein is synthesized from the protoplasm of biological cells and has high catalytic activity. It is usually called "biocatalyst" because it comes from organisms. Because of its high catalytic efficiency, strong specificity and mild reaction conditions, enzyme has been paid more and more attention and widely used in food processing, which has produced great social and economic benefits in improving product quality, reducing costs, saving raw materials and energy, and protecting the environment.

12. odorant. It is a substance that supplements or enhances the original flavor of food, and it is used to be called umami. Umami flavor does not affect any other taste stimuli, but only enhances their own flavor characteristics, thus improving the palatability of food. When some flavoring agents are used together with monosodium glutamate, there is obvious synergistic effect, which can greatly improve the flavor intensity of monosodium glutamate (generally increased by 10 times). Therefore, there are many powerful monosodium glutamate and new monosodium glutamate on the market at present, which are well received by people.

In addition, in recent years, people are very interested in many natural umami extracts, and many umami extracts have been developed, such as meat extract, yeast extract, hydrolyzed animal protein and hydrolyzed vegetable protein. It is combined with sodium glutamate, sodium 5'- inosine and sodium 5'- guanosine in different proportions to make a compound umami material suitable for different foods. This umami agent not only has various flavors, but also is rich in protein peptides, amino acids, minerals and other nutritional functional components, which will be further developed.

13. Flour treatment agent. A substance that promotes the ripening and whitening of flour and improves the quality of products. There are 7 kinds of flour treatment agents approved for use in China.

14. coating agent. A substance coated on the surface of food, which plays the role of quality preservation, freshness preservation, glazing and preventing water evaporation, is called a coating agent. Coating on the surface of fruit can inhibit water evaporation, prevent microbial invasion and form modified atmosphere layer, thus prolonging the fresh-keeping time of fruit. Some sweets, such as chocolate, not only have bright and beautiful appearance, but also can prevent adhesion and maintain stable quality.

15. humectant. Substances added to help keep food moisture mainly refer to phosphates used in the processing of meat and aquatic products, which are used to enhance their moisture stability and have high water retention capacity. Phosphate in meat products can maintain the water retention of meat, increase the binding force, and maintain the nutritional composition and tenderness of meat. Phosphate can not only keep water, but also prevent beer and beverage from turbidity. Used for cleaning eggshells to prevent eggs from deteriorating due to cleaning; Used to stabilize natural pigments in fruits and vegetables when cooking.

16. nutritional fortifier. Natural or synthetic food additives added to food to enhance nutritional components belong to the scope of natural nutrients. It usually includes amino acids, vitamins, inorganic salts and fatty acids. The distribution and content of the above four nutrients in different foods are different. At the same time, nutrients may be lost during the cooking, processing and preservation of food. In order to maintain the original nutritional components of food, or supplement the nutritional components lacking in food, a certain amount of food nutritional fortifier is added to food to improve its nutritional value. This kind of food is called fortified food.

17. preservatives. Substances that prevent food from spoilage and prolong the shelf life of food. In order to prevent all kinds of processed foods, fruits and vegetables from spoilage, physical or chemical methods can be adopted according to specific conditions. The chemical method is to use chemicals to inhibit the growth of microorganisms or kill them. These chemicals are preservatives. Preservatives can be divided into broad sense and narrow sense: narrow sense preservatives mainly refer to sorbic acid, benzoic acid and other chemicals directly added to food; Broadly speaking, preservatives include not only chemicals in a narrow sense, but also substances that are usually considered as condiments and have antiseptic effects, such as salt and vinegar, as well as disinfectants and mildewproof agents that are usually used for food storage without being directly added to food. Preservatives used as food additives refer to substances that prevent food from spoilage, prolong the shelf life of food, and inhibit the proliferation of microorganisms in food, but condiments such as salt, sugar, vinegar and spices that have the same function in food are not included. Does not include disinfectants used for disinfection and sterilization of food containers.

Stabilizer and coagulant. A substance that stabilizes or keeps the structure of food unchanged and strengthens sticky solids. Mainly includes gum, dextrin, sugar ester and other sugar derivatives. Stabilizers in a broad sense can also include coagulants, chelating agents, etc. It is often combined with other functional additives to form composite additives. For example, the additive used in ice cream is a composite additive composed of emulsifier and stabilizer.

19. Substances that give food sweetness. At present, there are 17 kinds of sweeteners approved for use in China, which can be divided into natural and synthetic according to their sources. Among them, natural sweeteners are divided into sugar alcohols and non-sugars, and sugar alcohols include maltitol, sorbitol (liquid), xylitol, lactitol, erythritol and mannitol; Non-saccharides include stevioside, glycyrrhizin and mogroside. Synthetic sweeteners are divided into sulfonamides, dipeptides and sucrose derivatives. Sulfonamides include saccharin sodium, sodium/calcium cyclamate (also called sodium cyclamate) and acesulfame K or AK sugar. Dipeptides include methyl aspartate (also known as aspartame or sweetener), alitame and neotame; Sucrose derivatives include sucralose (also known as sucralose) and isomaltulose (also known as palatinose).

20. Thickening agent. A substance that can improve the viscosity of food or form gel, thus changing the physical properties of food, making food sticky and suitable for taste, and has emulsifying, stabilizing or suspending effects. The function of thickener in food: coating, filming, demoulding, lubricating, puffing, crystallization control, clarification, turbidity, emulsification, gelation, protection, stability and suspension. Commonly used thickeners: gelatin, sodium caseinate, Arabic gum, tamarind polysaccharide gum, sesbania gum, agar, sodium alginate (sodium alginate, alginate), carrageenan, pectin, xanthan gum, β-cyclodextrin, sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC-Na), sodium starch phosphate (sodium starch phosphate), sodium carboxymethyl starch, hydroxypropyl starch and propylene glycol alginate (PGA).

2 1. Edible spices. A substance that can be used to mix and enhance the flavor of food. It can not only stimulate appetite and promote digestion and absorption, but also play an important role in increasing the variety of food and improving the quality of food. Edible essence is a special food additive, with many varieties and small dosage, and most of them exist in natural food. Because of its strong flavor and taste, its dosage in food is often limited by itself. At present, there are nearly 2000 kinds of edible spices used in the world. There are also about 1000 varieties approved for use in China. According to their sources and manufacturing methods, food spices are usually divided into three categories: natural spices, natural equivalent spices and artificial spices.

Natural spices. It is a substance separated from natural aromatic plants or animal raw materials by pure physical methods. They are generally considered to be highly secure. Include essential oil, tincture, extract, purified oil and perfume oleoresin.

Nature equals perfume. It is a substance obtained by synthetic method or separated from natural aromatic raw materials by chemical process. These substances are chemically the same as those existing in natural products for human consumption (whether processed or not). There are many kinds of spices, accounting for the majority of food spices, which are very important for the preparation of food flavors.

Artificial perfume. It is an undiscovered fragrance in natural products for human consumption (whether processed or not). There are few varieties of this spice. They were chemically synthesized on New Year's Day, and their chemical structures have not been found in nature so far. Based on this, the safety of this kind of spices has aroused great concern. In China, all the spices listed in GB/T 14 156-93 "Food Spices and Codes" have undergone certain toxicological evaluation and are considered harmless to human body (under certain dosage conditions). Among them, except for a few varieties that have been fully evaluated in toxicology, they are currently listed as temporary licensed varieties. However, it is worth noting that with the continuous development of science and technology and the continuous improvement of people's understanding, some varieties of artificial spices have been found in natural foods, so they can be classified as natural equivalent spices. For example, allyl caproate, an artificial perfume licensed in China, has been reclassified as a natural equivalent perfume internationally.

22. Processing AIDS in the food industry. Various substances that contribute to the smooth progress of food processing have nothing to do with the food itself. Such as filter aid, clarification, adsorption, lubrication, demoulding, decoloration, peeling, solvent extraction, nutrients for fermentation, etc.