Chemistry · Ch 15 — Chemistry in Everyday Life
Important Categories of Food Additives
Important Categories of Food Additives
Food additives fall into eight broad categories: aroma compounds, food colours, preservatives, stabilizers, artificial sweeteners, antioxidants, buffering substances, and vitamins and minerals. Between them, these eight categories cover essentially every reason a substance ends up added to a packaged food beyond its core ingredients -- taste and smell, appearance, shelf life, texture, sweetness, resistance to spoilage, pH control, and nutritional fortification respectively. …
Worked out. Aroma compounds, food colours, preservatives, stabilizers, artificial sweeteners, antioxidants, buffering substances, and vitamins and minerals -- together these cover essentially every reason a substance might be added to a packaged food beyond its core ingred …
Worked out. (1) Preservatives reduce product spoilage and extend shelf life. (2) Added vitamins and minerals reduce malnutrition. (3) Flavouring agents enhance the food's aroma. (4) Antioxidants prevent the formation of potentially toxic oxidation products from lipids and other food constituents -- each advantage maps directly onto one of the eight categories …