Why use food additives?

Lots of people enjoy making bread, cakes, wine, beer, and ice cream at home. However, most of today's food is bought from shops and supermarkets. Food from supermarkets need to be in a good condition for a long period of time. Therefore, it contains food additives. Additives are used so that these foods still have a consistently high quality. In some products, they are so essential that additives are used even in certain organic foods.

Additives are used in a range of food

In some countries, many food is lost because it 'goes off' due to microbial growth before it can be eaten. Food poisoning also shows the dangers of contaminated food and without the use of preservatives, it would quite likely be more common. Preservatives, colours and flavours are the best known additives but in fact there are many categories of additives, each tailored to a specific purpose.