What is (and isn't) a food additive?

What is Foodditive?

Foodditive is a community site and iPhone application providing comprehensive information on E-numbered food additives. There are hundreds of food additives which may be used to improve the colourAdded to change or intensify colour in food., flavourA natural or artificial compound used to give food a particular taste or smell., texture, or storage life of food.

Some popular topics include:

What Is a Food Additive?

A food additive is a substance added to improve a quality such as the colour, flavour, texture, stability, or appearance of a food recipe or ingredient. Unlike a food ingredient such as sugar or wheat, an additive generally does not have any nutritional value of its own. Many additives are useful and considered safe in reasonable quantities, but there are also some that have been found to cause adverse reactions.

Historically, information on additives has often been either omitted or unclear on product packaging. Modern food labelling requirements have improved the situation by introducing a standard convention called E-numbers for identifying specific additives, but in the global marketplace there is still a lot of variation in the naming and description of additives. It is important to note that an additive with an E-number is not necessarily approved for use in all countries (and in fact, some additives have been universally shunned).

Some examples of common additives and their usage categories are:

E621: MSG - flavour enhancer
E330: Citric acid - acidity regulator, anti-oxidant, preservative
E415: Xanthin gum - thickener, stabiliser

What Isn't a Food Additive?

A common confusion is the distinction between a food ingredient and a food additive. The general difference is that food additives only improve aspects of a food ingredient, but would not have any nutritional value or purpose for consumption on their own. In some countries there are also lists of substances that are Generally Recognised As Safe (GRAS) and therefore exempt from an E-number classification.

Substances that are currently not considered food additives include:

Food ingredients
Pesticides
Drugs (although there is a classification for Antibioitics, few are listed).

Where a substance can be used in multiple industries (for example, colourings can be used in food, drugs, and cosmetics) there are different government bodies, approvals, and acceptable daily intakes for each.