There are hundreds of food additives approved by the FDA. Nowadays, almost all prepared, prepackaged foods available for sale have some kind of additive added to them. Additives are used for everything from adding color and flavors to preserving food, preventing texture changes and increasing buyer appeal.
Flavoring and Coloring
Additives are used widely to add flavors to foods. Sweeteners fall into this category and are used in everything from cookies to candy to peanut butter and jams. Chips that have a smoky or BBQ flavor have flavorings added to them. Artificial vanilla flavoring is another common additive. Some additives are added to foods to make them look "fresher." Orange colorings can be added to orange juice so it looks more appealing, and green and yellow coloring is often used in canned vegetables to restore the color lost during processing of the foods.
Preservation
According to the Royal Society of Chemistry, one of the most common uses of additives is as preservatives. Preservatives are added to basically any foods that are meant to stay fresh more than a few days. They slow down the growth of bacteria and prevent degradation. They also preserve the flavor of the food so it doesn't go stale as time passes.
Other Uses
Emulsifiers are food additives that give food a creamy or spongy texture. They are common in bread and other baked products, as well as in mayonnaise and margarine, frozen desserts, peanut butter and coffee creamers. Additives can also be used as bleaching agents, anti-foaming agents and stabilizers. Anti-caking additives are used in table salt, flour and other powdered foods to prevent them from lumping and sticking together. Some additives provide nutritional value to foods. For example, additives are used in bread, cereals and flour to enhance the content of folic acid and niacin in these foods.
Controversy
While the FDA claims that all food additives it has approved for sale are considered safe, many consumer protection organizations say otherwise. The Center for Science in the Public Interest divides additives into three groups: safe, cut back and avoid. Additives in the "avoid group" are either unsafe or not properly tested and should be avoided as much as possible. Yellows 5 and 6, which are common coloring additives, fall into this group. Yellow 5 can cause allergies and yellow 6 has been shown to cause kidney and adrenal gland tumors in animals. Many coloring additives have the potential of being carcinogenic while others can cause serious allergic reactions. One of the most debated additives is aspartame, an artificial sweetener. Opponents say aspartame can cause anything from depression and learning disabilities to blindness and cancer. The FDA maintains that aspartame is safe.
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