Food Additives and Their Labeling
All these additives ensure that our foods today look, taste, smell, and feel as we know them and as the industry deems appropriate, visually appealing, and effective for marketing. This makes the group of food additives a controversial topic.
In the European Union (EU), it is legally regulated which additives may be added to foods and in what quantities this is permissible and safe (positive list). With more than 300 substances that are often not only EU-wide but frequently worldwide distributed and approved, it became necessary to label them in a generally understandable way. It was agreed upon the so-called E numbers (E for Europe), which everyone can orient themselves by, regardless of language.
The Group of Stabilizers
These additives are substances responsible for ensuring that foods retain their original color, aroma, and texture even during longer storage periods. Under the umbrella term stabilizer, various emulsifiers, antioxidants, phosphates, and acid regulators are grouped together. Also included in this group are anti-caking agents and foam stabilizers. In the ingredient list, they are generally labeled as "stabilizers," followed by the corresponding E number and sometimes the name of the actual substance.
Stabilizers - The Types and Their Applications
Sediment Stabilizers
These substances ensure that in cloudy liquids, suspended particles do not simply settle at the bottom but are evenly dissolved in the liquid. An example here is naturally cloudy fruit juice.
Color Stabilizers
The non-coloring color stabilizers preserve and intensify the existing color. They are used, for example, to maintain and improve the healthy red color of meat.
Emulsifiers
Many foods, such as mayonnaise or ice cream, contain a mixture of fat and water. Since fat and water do not form a stable bond with each other, emulsifiers are needed for the production of the emulsion. They prevent separation and maintain the texture of the food. Emulsifiers are classified with E numbers from E431 to E495. Examples include pectin, monoglycerides and diglycerides, cellulose, and many more.
Foam Stabilizers
They keep foamy preparations of baked goods and confectionery stable for longer periods.
Acidulants
On the one hand, they act as stabilizers but on the other also as leavening agents, gelling agents, or emulsifiers. They include many natural products such as E 260 - acetic acid, E 270 - lactic acid, E 330 - citric acid, but also E 451 - triphosphates and E 452 - polyphosphates.
Antioxidants
They stabilize the taste, color, and shelf life of foods, ensuring that they remain enjoyable even after longer periods by preventing or delaying fat oxidation. The group of antioxidants includes ascorbic acid (vitamin C). It is a natural antioxidant frequently used in the food industry. Other antioxidants are tocopherols (E 306-E 309) from the vitamin E group, often used margarine gallates (E 320-E 312), BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole, E 320), and BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene, E 321).
Thickening Agents
In industrially produced foods, gelling and thickening agents are frequently used. They contribute to a pleasant viscosity of soups and sauces, creams, and fillings. Since thickening agents also bind water, they can be used to deliberately reduce the nutritional value of foods. Commonly found here are alginic acid (E 400), agar-agar (E 406), carrageenan (E 407), locust bean gum (E 410), guar gum (E 412), gum arabic (E 414), pectin (E 440), and cellulose (E 460).
Alginate
Alginates (alginic acid) are used not only as thickening agents but also as emulsifiers, gelling agents, and coating agents in many diet and light products, baked goods, mayonnaise, ice cream, and soups. They are also used in cosmetics.
Modified Starches
They provide shine on glazes.
Stabilizer E472e
To achieve particularly airy rolls, this stabilizer is frequently used as it allows for a very high air incorporation.
Natural Stabilizers
In addition to the already mentioned substances such as ascorbic acid and tocopherol, stable natural colorants (such as from elderberry) have been traditionally used for color retention and intensification. Beeswax is used as a stabilizer in skin creams and care products with emollient, consistency-regulating, and smoothing properties. In foods, it is often used as a coating agent and separator, similar to gum arabic. Egg yolk has traditionally been used so that emulsions combine and do not separate again. Nature offers many more good approaches here, but industrially produced stabilizers still dominate the market.
Stabilizers and Their Risks
We know today that not all food additives are completely harmless. Stabilizer E 250, nitrite curing salt, is one of them. It acts as a vasodilator and raises blood pressure while modifying hemoglobin (red blood pigment) so it can no longer transport oxygen. This is particularly dangerous for infants. When heated, cured meat products form nitrosamines that may be carcinogenic.