Antioxidants in Food

Antioxidants: Slowing Chemical Oxidation of Food

Antioxidants in food are additives that help preserve food by chemically retarding the action of atmospheric oxygen on it, and different antioxidants achieve this protective effect through several genuinely distinct chemical mechanisms rather than one shared reaction.

The two most familiar and widely used food antioxidants are butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). Their protective effect can be dramatic: adding BHA to butter, for example, extends the butter's usable shelf life from a matter of months to a matter of years. For even greater protective effect, BHT and BHA are sometimes combined together with citric acid in the same formulation. Separately, sulphur dioxide and sulphites serve as useful antioxidants for wine, beer, …