E-additives in products: what is really hidden behind labeling.

Food additives: myths and reality

Especially frightened individuals spend a long time studying the labels, trying to find supposedly 'healthy' products without additives. And, of course, they can't! After all, numerous products are available in stores only due to the presence of food additives in their composition.

Food additives are substances added to products during production to provide them with the necessary aroma, taste, color, consistency, and shelf life. They can be compared to spices that a housewife uses to season a dish. After all, salt and pepper are also food additives.

Why are they called that?

The manufacturer is obliged to specify the composition on the packaging. And, to avoid taking too much space there, in 1953, a system of international coding for food additives was invented in the European Union.

One shouldn't consider E-additives as something unnatural. The phrase by scientist Volodymyr Bessonov has become well-known: 'If we consider a natural, fresh apple from the perspective of food additives, I can say that it contains additives E296, E330, E440, E141 and a few others.'

Even in the kitchen of any housewife, you can find 'E-additives': gelatin (E441) or agar-agar (E406), citric acid (E330), baking soda (E500), starch (E1422), etc.

Not what we are afraid of

Hygienist scientists assess the risks for food products as follows: the most dangerous are microbial contamination and nutrient imbalance, which is 1000 times less than environmental pollution, while the risk from using food additives is less than 100,000 times. That is, a dirty apple or old salad should alarm us much more than E-additives.

As told to us by the technologists of TM 'Bashchynsky', food additives are applied in their production based on 4 principles:

• Prohibition principle: everything not allowed is forbidden.
• Food additives can be used only when the intended task cannot be achieved by technological means and only in the minimum necessary amount. And that is why the shelf life of TM 'Bashchynsky' products does not exceed 30 days. If you see sausages or hot dogs in the store with a longer shelf life, it should raise your concerns!
• Only those additives that have passed all toxicological tests and are recognized by doctors as safe for use are allowed;
• For each additive, there are established purity criteria that it must meet to be added to the food product.

And in cheese and hard cheese?

Food additives are also used in the production of cheese and hard cheese. Most often, these include calcium chloride (E509), lactic acid (E270), citric acid (E330), acetic acid (E260), hydrochloric acid (E507), preservatives (E252 and E251), lysozyme (E1105), as well as food colorings E160a and E160b. Of course, all these additives are allowed and pose no harm.

As we can see, there is no point in drawing conclusions about the health benefits of a product based on the presence of E-additives. E-additives are widely used in the production of a huge number of products; these are the realities of the civilized world.

For peace of mind

There is just one caveat - E-additives that are prohibited for use. Familiarize yourself with their list and buy products only from trusted manufacturers.