What Is E-Number Food Additives?

E-number food additives, their chemistry and role in food
Since the dawn of time, humans had using several simpler and yet natural food preservation techniques such as preserving meat using salt, or immersing onions and cucumber in a jar of vinegar to keep the food fresh and last longer. The method of preserving food had been evolved over a significant period of time. (Heldman, 2003) Food additives are either a natural or synthetic substances which was added intentionally to food to improve the taste and the appearance or to store longer period of time for later consumption. Food additives are included inside most of the things we eat.
Technology has advanced over time that humans had invented different kind of artificial food additives. Food additives have increased its uses and consist of different kind of chemical properties. Today, there are more than 2500 different food additives are added into foods to enhance the taste of the food and ensure food lasts longer (Branen, 2002).The use of the food …show more content…
(Gates, 2010) The legislation requires the food to be labeled in the list of ingredients, declare its contents either in mass or volume, functions, followed by their name or E number and must pass the safety tests conducted by highly recognized agency if they had fulfill the criteria laid down in regulation. The majority of food additives appear to be safe.
There is no doubt that food additives are important and had played an important role in our lives. The commonly used food additives are preservatives, antioxidants, flavourings, stabilizers, thickeners and colourings. These different kinds of food additives function in many different ways. The functions of these food additives will be discussed in more detail in this assignment.