Without additives, food spoilage and loss to pests would be higher, and many foods would be lower in nutritional quality and less appealing in looks and taste to consumers. The use of additives is carefully monitored by the FDA, and all additives are safe in the quantities in which they are consumed in foods. Some companies use the word "natural" or "organic" on their food labels, implying that their products are somehow better. In fact, "natural" has no Federal definition, and "organic" refers only to restrictions on pesticide use in food production, not to whether one food is safer than another.
Answers: All answers are false.
Read each statement and check "true" or "false."
1. Food additives may be nice, but they are never really necessary.
True False2. All additives are by-products of twentieth century technology and know-how.
True False3. The term "additive" means artificial.
True False4. Foods were generally more risk-free in earlier times.
True False5. Chemical-free foods are available.
True False6. If you think you had a bad reaction to an additive, the only one who really needs to be informed is your doctor.
True FalseRead the next column for evidence to prove your answers. Underline the evidence. You may decide to change your answers.
When you hear or read the word "additive," what do you think of? Many people tend to think of food additives as complex manufactured chemical compounds. In truth, the list of over 2800 food additives used today includes natural substances, such as beet powder (used as food coloring), salt, and vanilla. Such substances may be produced from plants or animals; they may be mined from the earth or taken from the sea. Other additives, such as polysorbate 60 (which is added to salad dressing and other foods to keep the ingredients blended), and aspartame are not found in nature - they are chemically manufactured. Both types of additives, natural and artificial, are chemicals. All foods, whether picked from your garden or from the supermarket shelf, are made up of chemicals. Whether an additive is taken from nature or is chemically manufactured has no bearing on its safety.
So what are additives and why are they used? Additives are substances added directly to food for a specific purpose or indirectly to food due to packaging, storing, or handling. Generally, additives can be grouped by their intended function:
Additives are not a new idea. Preservatives that we call "sulfites" were used by the ancient Romans and spices have been added to foods since biblical times. Previously, there were few safeguards over additives. Today, however, federal regulations require scientific evidence that each substance is safe in the amounts intended for use before it can be added to foods. Still, a small percentage of people are sensitive to a few additives, such as sulfites. If you feel you have had a bad reaction to an additive, contact your doctor. Then call your local FDA office. They can't help if they don't know.
* U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the International Food Information Council Foundation, 1993