When you look at the packaging, you can usually find them: E-numbers together with their areas of application. Their use is not limited to toxic green candies and pink marzipan pigs. But what exactly is behind these food additives?
Overview of areas of use
The yogurt should be aromatic, fluffy and creamy, the fruit in the jam should tempt you to try it. And who would eat a pale gray gummy bear with relish? To ensure that the soups in bags and the salt don’t clump, that spreads, cookies or sausages look appetizing and that the marzipan pig doesn’t dry out, the food industry uses a seemingly confusing amount of food additives – recognizable by the E-numbers (the “E” is an abbreviation for Europe). Depending on their effect/area of application, a distinction is made between the following groups in particular:
- Antioxidant
- Baking agent
- Emulsifiers
- Dyestuffs
- Solidifying agent
- Humectant
- Fillers
- Gelling and thickening agents
- Flavor enhancer
- Preservatives
- Flour treatment agents
- Modified starches
- Foaming agents and foam inhibitors
- Acidity regulators and acidifiers
- Melting salt
- Stabilizers
- Sweeteners
- Propellant gas
- Release agent
- Coating agent
A substance can have several properties – so antioxidants often also serve as preservatives (for example, sodium sulfite E221) or leavening agents also serve as acidity regulators (for example, sodium carbonate E500).
Additives: E numbers
Food additives are deliberately used to influence the appearance, taste and shelf life of foods. Currently, about 320 additives are permitted in the EU and must be indicated on packaging: In the form of the capital E, followed by a 3- or 4-digit numerical code – and together with the area of use. Instead of the E number, the name can also be used (for example, “colorant carotene” instead of “colorant E 160a”) – which is often done because many consumers find it less off-putting. All additives that are approved in the EU have such an E-number, which allows the additives to be named uniformly in all EU countries. However, it is very important that not everyone who produces food is allowed to use just any ingredient, but its use must be reasonable and necessary. This is regulated in individual regulations.
Mandatory labeling on packaging
In principle, consumers must not be left in the dark about the use of additives – for this reason, there is also a labeling obligation on the packaging. However: approval and labeling obligations do not exist if the food additive is used as a technical adjuvant. This is only necessary for the production process (for example as a reaction influencer or separating agent) and is no longer found in the end product, or only as an unavoidable but ineffective residue. Substances of natural origin, such as spices, plant parts and table salt, or substances obtained from natural substances by means of physical processes, such as egg white, starch and wheat protein, are also not covered by the approval and labeling regulations. This is a potentially dangerous situation, especially for allergy sufferers.
ADI value – requirements for additives
Food additives must not pose a health risk to consumers, even in the long term. Thus, they must undergo an approval process in which their effects on the human organism are tested. From these tests, the WHO (World Health Organization), together with experts from the Food and Agriculture Organization, derives the so-called ADI (Acceptable Daily Intake) values for humans. This is the amount of a chemical substance – in contrast to the TDI (Tolerable Daily Intake) – used intentionally, which a person can take in daily for a lifetime without endangering his or her health.
Admission testing and harmful substances
Time and again, substances pass the approval tests and are only later classified as hazardous (for example, carcinogenic) and banned. These include, for example, synthetically produced red azo dyes (Sudan dyes, butter yellow, and nitroaniline red). It should also be borne in mind that the authorization bans and regulations only apply to the European area.Thus, substances classified as potentially harmful are repeatedly found in foods from the Far East – for example, Sudan red in Indian chili products or other spices, tomato sauces, pasta and sausage products, or palm oil.
