Origins

Food additives are not a recent invention — they've been used for thousands of years to improve the appearance, flavourA natural or artificial compound used to give food a particular taste or smell., and texture of food. The earliest food additives included salt and spices to help preserve cooked meat and fish; herbs to improve flavour; and vegetable colouring to improve appearance and presentation.

The historical use of food additives, however, was minimal by comparison to modern day usage. Meals in the past were most often prepared from locally produced raw ingredients and seasonal food items. Present day food science and transport industries now enable most foods to be available all year round, often through liberal use of food additives to extend shelf life and improve food quality. Fresh food that has been through a manufacturing or treatment process is generally called processed food. More highly processed food requiring minimal preparation (typically just heating) is referred to as convenience food.

Regulation

Food additives were not regulated until the mid 20th century, when legislation such as the FDAUS Food and Drug Administration, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, dietary supplements, drugs, cosmetics, and other products affecting public health.'s 1958 Food Additives Amendment and 1960 Color Additives Amendment started requiring manufacturers to more thoroughly prove the safety of new additives. In the US, it took another 30 years before the 1990 Nutrition Labelling and Education Act (NLEA) was passed .. finally requiring that all packaged foods include standard nutrition labelling information.

E-Numbers and Labelling

Cases of adulterated food throughout history have led to a general mistrust of additives. Effective methods of food analysis have been developed to reduce the frequency and severity of adulterated foods. There are an increasing number of individuals with sensitivities to specific food additives, so proper labelling and monitoring of food is an important consideration in modern packaging.

The E-number standard was developed in Europe as a means of consistent labelling for food additives. Since additives can have different names or spellings depending on the language used, the E-number system instead assigns a unique 3-4 digit reference number. The E-number ranges have been pre-assigned to food additive classifications, so that someone familiar with the system would have an idea of the primary purpose of the additive even without knowing the name (for example, E600-699 are flavour enhancers).

The E-number system has since been adopted in other regions like North America and Oceania, where the same numbering system is used but the E- prefix is often omitted. For example, E621 (MSG) in Europe may also be labelled as "621" in North America.