echemi logo
Product
  • Product
  • Supplier
  • Inquiry
    Home > Food News > Sweetener News > Guizhou Provincial Market Supervision Bureau's science tips on food additives

    Guizhou Provincial Market Supervision Bureau's science tips on food additives

    • Last Update: 2022-12-29
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
    Search more information of high quality chemicals, good prices and reliable suppliers, visit www.echemi.com
    The history of human use of food additives is as old as
    the history of human civilization.
    According to relevant data, the history of the use of food additives in China can be traced back to the Dawenkou culture period 6,000 years ago, when the invertase (sucrase) in the yeast for winemaking was a food additive and belonged to food enzyme preparations; More than 2,000 years ago, tofu was ordered with "brine", which is essentially a food coagulant
    in food additives.
    Recently, food additives have attracted renewed attention
    .
    In order to help consumers scientifically understand food additives, the following popular science tips are made:
     
    First, what is food additives
     
    Food additives refer to synthetic or natural substances
    added to food for the purpose of improving food quality and color, aroma, taste and for the needs of preservative, preservation and processing technology.
    Food additives can be manufactured by chemical synthesis, biological fermentation or natural extraction
    .
    The number of food additives approved worldwide is about 15,000, and there are more than 2,300 kinds of food additives approved for use in China, divided into 22 categories according to function, common antioxidants, leavening agents, colorants, preservatives, sweeteners, food spices, etc
    .
     
    Second, the role of food additives
     
    The use of food additives improves product quality, enriches food types, and meets consumers' diversified consumption needs for food.

    Food additives mainly have the following functions: maintain or improve the nutritional value of the food itself; as a necessary ingredient or ingredient for certain special dietary foods; Improving the quality and stability of food products and improving their organoleptic properties; It is convenient for the production, processing, packaging, transportation or storage
    of food.
    Such as adding antioxidants to cooking oil to delay or hinder oil oxidation; Add colorants to the candy to give it a good color
    .
     
    Third, the rational use of food additives will not affect human health
     
    In order to protect consumer health, the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations have established a special Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) to establish globally harmonized food safety risk assessment principles and methods for food additives, and to carry out food safety risk assessment of food additives at the international level
    .
    The Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) establishes standards
    for the use of food additives at the international level.
    As one of the host countries of the Codex International Commission on Food Additives, China is in line with international standards and carries out food safety risk assessment of food additives in combination with the actual production, use and food consumption data of domestic food additives
    .
     
    The current National Standard for Food Safety: Standard for the Use of Food Additives (GB 2760-2014) stipulates the principles of the use of food additives, the varieties of food additives allowed, the scope of use, and the maximum amount of use or residue
    。 The basic requirements that should be met when using food additives mainly include: should not cause any health hazards to the human body; Food spoilage should not be masked; Quality defects in the food itself or during processing should not be concealed or food additives used for the purpose of adulteration, adulteration or forgery; The nutritional value of the food itself should not be reduced; Reduce the amount of food used
    in food as much as possible while achieving the desired effect.
     
    Food products that use food additives should be marked on the food label for consumers to understand consumption
    .
    According to the requirements of relevant laws and regulations, China will carry out food safety risk assessment of food additives when setting the maximum amount of each food additive, and will consider the situation
    of people of different ages, regions and genders eating a variety of foods a day and eating them for a long time.
    Therefore, food additives are used within the specified range and dosage, which will not cause excessive intake and will not cause harm
    to human health.
    China also implements continuous and dynamic follow-up evaluation of food additives in use, re-evaluates food additives according to the latest research results at home and abroad, constantly adjusts the scope of use and usage, and bans the use
    of some substances.
     
    Fourth, food additives are not equivalent to illegal additives
     
    In accordance with the provisions of the Food Safety Law, China has established a series of food additive management systems
    .
    Implement a strict approval system for food additives before marketing; Implement a production license system for food additive manufacturers during production; A food safety risk assessment system for food additives has been established during use, and more than 700 mandatory national food safety standards
    covering the use of food additives, product requirements, production specifications, labeling and labeling, inspection methods, etc.
    have been formulated.
    In addition, the requirements for the production, operation and use of food additives and the corresponding supervision and management system, the import and export management system of food additives, etc
    .
    have been established.
     
    Food additives are safe
    when used legally.
    Relevant national notification reports show that so far, none of the food safety incidents that have caused harm to human health in China have been caused by the legal use of food additives
    .
    The illegal acts of "two supers and one non-food" such as using food additives beyond the scope and exceeding the limit and adding non-edible substances are the causes of
    food safety problems.
    For example, melamine in the "melamine" milk powder incident is not a food additive! Sudan red in the "Sudan Red Duck Egg" incident is not a food additive! In the "poisonous duck blood" incident, formalin is not a food additive! These are illegal additives to food
    .
     
    China's Food Safety Law expressly prohibits the production and operation of food that uses food additives beyond the scope and limit; Food produced from non-food raw materials, or foods with chemical substances other than food additives and other substances that may endanger human health
    .
    Food additives are completely different
    from illegal additives.
    In order to further crack down on the illegal addition of non-edible substances and abuse of food additives in food production, sales and catering services, market supervision and other departments have carried out a series of special rectifications, and in the past ten years, six batches of "List of Non-edible Substances and Food Additives that May Be Illegally Added to Food and Food Additives that Are Easy to Abuse" have been issued successively.

     
    December 12, 2022
    This article is an English version of an article which is originally in the Chinese language on echemi.com and is provided for information purposes only. This website makes no representation or warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness ownership or reliability of the article or any translations thereof. If you have any concerns or complaints relating to the article, please send an email, providing a detailed description of the concern or complaint, to service@echemi.com. A staff member will contact you within 5 working days. Once verified, infringing content will be removed immediately.

    Contact Us

    The source of this page with content of products and services is from Internet, which doesn't represent ECHEMI's opinion. If you have any queries, please write to service@echemi.com. It will be replied within 5 days.

    Moreover, if you find any instances of plagiarism from the page, please send email to service@echemi.com with relevant evidence.