Food Additives:

Good, Bad, and Ugly

 What is a food additive?

 Why are they put in food?
 History of food additives
 How are they approved for use in food?
 Are food additive safe?
 Categories of food additives
 “Natural” vs. “Artificial”
 Miscellaneous controversies:
Food Additives “Ice Structuring Proteins”, Autism, Gluten
 Conclusion
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Dr. Erin Dormedy, Ph.D.

Introduction Introduction
 Why add substances to food?  A scare over a food additive
 For preservation, flavor, or appearance  May linger long after researchers find there's no
 Centuries old practice cause for alarm
 Before refrigeration:  Today:
 Salts to preserve meats and fish  Thousands of food additives found in foods
 Sugar to preserve fruits  Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
 maintains a list of over 3,000 ingredients in food
 In ancient cultures: additive database
 Sulfites to preserve wine  Many of these are found in our own kitchens:
 Spices and colorings to enhance flavors  Salt, sugar, and baking soda
 Some consumers have concerns about food
additives and their safety

What Are Food Additives? Why Use Food Additives?

“Chemical substances deliberately added  To Maintain of Improve Safety
slow spoilage caused by mold, air, bacteria, fungi, or yeast
to foods,


 To Improve of Maintain Nutrient Value

directly or indirectly,  Add vitamins, minerals, and fiber
in known and regulated quantities,  lacking in a person’s diet
lost in processing
for purposes of assisting in the

 to enhance nutritional quality of a food (fortification)
processing of foods;  To Improve Taste, Texture and Appearance
Spice, flavors, and sweeteners added to enhance taste
preservation of foods; 
 Food colors can add to appearance
or in improving the flavor,  Emulsifiers, stabilizers and thickeners give foods texture, consistency
 Leavening agents allow baking goods to rise
texture or appearance of foods.”  Other additives help control pH of foods

United States Code Title 21, Chapter 9: Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act,
Subchapter IV – FOOD, § 348 - Food additives

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Five General Criteria of Food GRAS, PAFA, EAFUS
Additives
 Must perform their intended function.  Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS)
 21 CFR 182-186
 Must not deceive the consumer or conceal defects.  Priority-Based Assessment of Food Additives
(PAFA) Database
 Cannot considerably reduce nutritional value.  Provides information on the toxicological effects of food
ingredients known to be used in the United States
 3300 direct food ingredients
 Cannot be used to achieve an affect that could be  3200 indirect additives
gained by good manufacturing practices.  Adhesives, coatings, paperboard packaging

 Everything Added to Food in the United

 A method of analysis must exist to monitor the States (EAFUS)
additive.  A list generated from PAFA

History of Food Additives History of Food Additives

 200 BC:  15th Century:
Cato described a method for determining whether Prohibition in Europe of selling wine as if produced
wine had been watered. in one region, when produced in another.
 Early Roman Law:  1723:
Adding good grain to mask spoiled grain Use of lead pipes in distillation operations
“Artificial oil” offered in place of olive oil prohibited because of concern over food safety.
 1898:
 1202: Virginia law considered candy adulterated if
King John of England contained terra alba, barytes, talc or other mineral
 First English food law substances, poisonous color or flavor, or “any
 Prohibiting adulteration of bread with material other than ingredient deleterious or injurious to health.”
flour (ground peas or beans)

History of Food Additives History of Food Additives

 1842:  1883
US Patent Office established
 to handle many ag-related inventions
Dr. Harvey Wiley became USDA Bureau of
 1862: Chemistry’s chief chemist
Lincoln established U.S. Dept of Agriculture from  expanded efforts to study food adulteration
staff in the Patent Office.  A “poison squad” of 12 USDA employees
 Lincoln established a Division of Chemistry in the Dept of
 Studied preservatives used in food products
Ag to identify various types of adulteration.
 Consumed chemicals used as preservatives
 1879
Kept careful record of the effects on their health
First call for a national food and drug law came 

from the chief chemist  It is not recorded if any of the squad died
 most of the chemicals tested were found to be injurious to health.
 Unheeded for more than 25 years.

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 The Dining Room of The Dining Room of
“Dr. Wiley’s Poison Squad" “Dr. Wiley’s Poison Squad"
Under the authority of the U.S. government, Harvey Wiley, upper right, presided “Twelve young clerks, vigorous and voracious” screened for “high moral
over a team of borax-eating men known as the Poison Squad. character” with reputations for “sobriety and reliability.”

“The Song of the Pizen (Poison) Squad” History of Food Additives

by poet S.W. Gillilan
 1906
On Prussic acid we break our fast;
Upton Sinclair published “The Jungle”
we lunch on a morphine stew;
We dine with a matchhead consomme,  described in explicit detail the adulteration that
drink carbolic acid brew; was common in the meat industry in Chicago.
Corrosive sublimate tones us up  1906
like laudanum ketchup rare, Pure Food and Drug Act
While tyro-toxicon condiments
 which had been first proposed 27 years earlier
are wholesome as mountain air.
Thus all the "deadlies" we double-dare Meat Inspection Act
to put us beneath the sod;
We're death-immunes and we're proud as proud--
Hooray for the Pizen Squad!

History of Food Additives 1958 Food Additive Amendment

 1930
USDA Bureau of Chemistry renamed the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)  FDA will not approve use of an
 1938 additive until convinced by data
supplied by the manufacturer of the
The Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA)
material’s safety.
 1958 Food Additive Amendment
Dealt with the safety if these ingredients when
used in processed foods.
 Prior to this act, the FDA have to prove
something was unsafe to ban it.
 Now the burden of safety is with the
manufacturer.

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 How are they approved for
Are they safe? Not for some.
use in food?
 More strictly studied, regulated and  Allergies and Intolerances
monitored more than any other time in
Allergies: IgE antibodies produced against normally
history. 
harmless proteins AT VERY LOW LEVELS (10 PPM)
 FDA sets safety standards:  Come on very suddenly
 Can be life-threatening
 Determining whether a substance is safe for its
 “Big Eight” cause 90% of allergic reactions
intended use  peanuts, soybean, tree nuts, milk, wheat, eggs, fish, shellfish

 Rigorous testing is done to determine the

 Intolerances: can tolerate much higher levels
amount of safe levels of different food additives
 Metabolic disorders (lactose intolerance, Celiac Disease)
 Food manufacturers must prove to the FDA  Come on slowly
their product is safe before it is put on the  Not life threatening
market.

Allergies and Intolerances Categories of Food Additives

 Your doctor can determine if you have  Antioxidants
allergy or intolerance.  stabilize foods that would otherwise undergo significant
loss in quality in the presence of O2.
 Elimination Diet  rancidity of fat (0.02% of weight of fat allowed)
 Keep food diary with symptoms  discoloration of foods (oxidation of pigments)
 Have allergy tests  Vitamin C, E, citric acid, phenolic compounds, BHA, BHT,
EDTA
 If you have a food allergy:
 you'll need to stop eating all TRACES of food  Nutrient Additives
 you could be at risk for anaphylaxis  Lost through processing: added back.
 Your doctor will prescribe Epi-Pen (epinephrine shots).  Lost through improper diet: adding sizable amounts of
Always carry two injections with you. daily requirements to foods
cereal, pasta, breakfast drinks
If you have a food intolerance:


 avoid or cut back on that food

Categories of Food Additives Categories of Food Additives

 Flavorings  Acidulants
 Natural or synthetic  Lower pH of food; also imparts flavor.
 Natural: more acceptable  Acetic acid (vinegar), citric acid (citrus), malic acid
 Synthetic: less expensive. (apples). Figs contain all three!

 Flavor Enhancers  Alkaline Compounds

 Intensify flavors already present  Raises pH. Neutralizes excess acid that may develop in
 NaCl, MSG fermented foods.
 Sodium hydroxide, sodium bicarbonate.

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Categories of Food Additives Categories of Food Additives
 Sweeteners  Artificial sweeteners
 Monosaccharides: Synthetic sugar substitutes: confusing, as may be derived
 glucose, mannose, galactose, fructose, and sorbose from nature, including herbs or sugar itself
 Disaccharides:  Xylitol, Sorbitol
 Sucrose (most common): glucose + fructose  non-nutritive sugar alcohols made from fruits and vegetables
 Maltose = 2 glucose molecules (xylitol) and red seaweed (sorbitol)
 Lactose = galactose + glucose  Aspartame (Equal)
 Corn syrup  200 times sweeter than sucrose
 Corn starch processed into syrup, which is almost entirely glucose  Bi-peptide: aspartic acid and phenylalanine
 Glucose- only 75% sweetness of sucrose  Saccharin
 High fructose corn syrup:  400 times sweeter than sucrose
 Corn syrup treated with enzyme to rearrange some of  Sucralose (Splenda)
its glucose into fructose  1000 times sweeter than sucrose
 Fructose: 173 times sweeter than sucrose  Stevia Leaf Extract (Truvia and Pure Via)
 Molasses, honey, maple sugar, agave syrup, brown rice  Monk Fruit Extract (Splenda’s Nectresse)
syrup

New Research! New Research!

New experiments in mice and people New experiments in mice and people
 Artificial sweeteners shown to:
 raise the blood sugar level instead of  Do artificial sweeteners help or
reducing it hinder people's ability to lose
 Saccharin, sucralose and aspartame: weight and lower their risk of
 Alter the population of bacteria in the gut diabetes?
 Trigger unwanted changes:
 Higher blood glucose levels
 Risk factor for diabetes.

Categories of Food Additives Categories of Food Additives

 Starches  Sequestrants
 Used as extender or thickening agent  combine with metals making them unavailable

 Gums  Polyhydric alcohols

 Dispersible in H2O, makes H2O viscous.  in addition to their use as sweeteners (xylitol and sorbitol), used for
 Stabilizers for ice cream, desserts, beverages, foam in beer, emulsified moisture and texture retention because of their affinity for water
salad dressings.
 Surface active agents: surfactants
 Enzymes  emulsifiers like mustard, lecithin in egg yolk
 Occur naturally in food, can be beneficial or detrimental
 Papain from papaya used as meat tenderizer  Leavening Agents: enhance rising in dough
 Pectinase causes fruit and vegetables to get soft
 Invertase: splits sucrose to monosaccharides
 Liqueurs would be cloudy without this enzyme; cherries  Ionizing Radiation
 Glucose oxidase: converts glucose to gluconic acid which does not brown  Food additive or PROCESS?
 Some enzymes produced by microbes  FDA wanted to increase safety testing and slow down the approval
 We add the microbes instead of the enzyme! (Butter, cheese, bread). process to allay consumers fears, so they called it a food additive!

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Categories of Food Additives Categories of Food Additives
 CHEMICAL PRESERVATIVES  CHEMICAL PRESERVATIVES (continued)
 Sodium Chloride: makes H2O unavailable to microbes.  Sorbic acid:
 Fatty Acids: inhibitory affect on microbes.  inhibits yeasts and molds in breads, cheeses and fruit drinks.

 Sodium or calcium proprionate:

 Sodium nitrite:
 added to prevent mold in bread.
 Added specifically to inhibit growth of bacteria Clostridium botulinum
 Sulfur dioxide: in smoked meats
 inhibits microbial growth by making certain carbohydrates  Toxin made by C. botulinum 100 times more toxic than cyanide
unavailable for food to the microbes.  Carcinogenic nitrosamines can form in cured meats when cooked to
 Added to fruit juices that are stored prior to fermentation. very high temperatures
 Prior to 1986 sulfites were GRAS.  Ascorbic acid inhibits nitrosamine formation
 Due to the death of several asthmatics after consuming fresh  550 ppm of ascorbic acid is required in cured meat
fruits/vegetables treated with sulfites, GRAS status withdrawn for  Don’t blacken your bacon, and eat in moderation
this purpose.
 If exceed 10 ppm in allowed applications, must be labeled.

Categories of Food Additives “Natural” vs. “Artificial”

 Colorants, 3 types:  Nothing about a natural additive makes it
 NATURAL:
 Obtained from animal, vegetable or mineral sources.
safer than an artificial or man-made
 Yellow from annatto seed, green from chlorophyll, orange from additive.
carotene
 Powdered juice extracts  An individual food additive consists of
 NATURE-IDENTICAL: chemical elements combined in a particular
If synthetic counterparts are derived from natural sources

 Canthaxanthin (red)
way.
 Apocarotenal (orange-red)  Whether it is grown in a garden or
 Beta-carotene (yellow-orange)
 SYNTHETIC:
manufactured in a laboratory, the chemical
 derived from synthetic dyes structure and composition is the same.
 FD&C dyes (water-soluble)
 FD&C lakes (water soluble dyes on substrate of aluminum hydroxide).
 Lakes are used in low water foods like icings, hard candy and gum.

Natural Occurring Toxicants Miscellaneous Controversies

Consumer Amount of Food Food Example  “Ice Structuring Proteins”

Normal Normal Abnormal botulinum toxin
contaminant
Normal Normal Unusual deathcap mushroom  Autism and Food
food
Normal Abnormal Normal Solanine in potatoes

Abnormal Normal Normal Allergies and  Gluten Hype

Intolerances
Normal Normal Cooked in Lectins undercooked
unusual manner beans
Normal Normal but for Normal Dietary fat,
long duration cholesterol

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 “Ice Structuring Proteins” “Ice Structuring Proteins”

 In an effort to:
“create ice cream as voluptuous as
butter and as virtuous as broccoli”*

 Unilever uses a protein cloned from

the blood of an eel-like Arctic Ocean
fish, the ocean pout.
 “Allows very creamy, dense, reduced-fat
ice creams with fewer additives.”
*Julia Moskin, Creamy, Healthier Ice Cream? What’s the Catch?, NY Times, July 26, 2006.

“Ice Structuring Proteins” “Ice Structuring Proteins”

 Instead of extracting the protein from  Approved by the FDA
the fish:  Approved name of “ice structuring
 altered the genetic structure of a strain proteins”
of baker’s yeast so that it produces the  Describes what it DOES (antifreeze) instead
protein during fermentation. of what it IS (fish protein gene product
produced by genetically altered yeast)
 Protect the fish from dying in freezing
 Unilever products in U.S. using ISPs:
temperatures:
 Popsicles and Breyers Light Double
 Makes ice cream creamier, by preventing
Churned ice cream bars
ice crystals from growing

Autism and Food Latest numbers from the CDC

 What is Autism?  Autism Spectrum Disorder

 Autism is a neurological disorder that  1 in 68 children
appears in the first 3 years of life,  1 in 42 boys versus 1 in 189 girls
and affects the brain's typical  Levels of intellectual ability vary greatly
development of social and  from severe intellectual challenges
communication skills.  to average/above average intellectual ability
 Most recent studies found:
 Almost half of children identified with ASD
have average or above average intellectual
ability (an IQ above 85)
 Compared to a third of children a decade ago.

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 Autism Spectrum Disorder Living with Autism

 Why do the number keep climbing  Autism in not a disease.

 Better diagnoses  You cannot catch it.
 Increased awareness
 You cannot be cured of it.
 Broader description- Bigger spectrum
 It's just how a brain is wired.

 Environmental factors?
 Like cancer:
 We must fight for every child to reach
 Genetic predisposition + environmental trigger their very fullest potential!

What is Autism? Autism and Food

In social environments autistics live with an  Autism is NOT:
overwhelming fear because:
 CAUSED BY VACCINATIONS
1. “Danger! Danger! Danger!“
-every sensory signal screams fight or flight  Exacerbated by foods and food additives
2. I don't understand 2/3 of what  Helped with a gluten free diet
people are saying  UNLESS patient has allergy or intolerance to
-not processing non-verbal communication, only literal gluten!
meaning of words they hear  Helped with a casein free diet
3. I have no idea why people think  UNLESS patient has allergy or intolerance to
I'm acting weird casein!
-every social protocol must be TAUGHT, do not learn
from copying others “normal” behavior

Autism and Food Autism and Food

 The neurological sensory-processing  Gluten and casein free diets (GFCF)

challenges mean that:  No research supports this
 Anecdotal data
 Autistics have severe food aversions
 Smell, feel, texture, sight, sound (crunch)  Further limitations of an already limited
can send a “danger” or unpleasant signal to diet!
the brain to be processed  The “weird kid”, already challenged in
 Specific, unique to each child social situations, can’t do typically social
things like eat pizza, ice cream and
birthday cake!

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 Autism and Food GLUTEN HYPE

 “The only predictable thing about living with

autism is the unpredictability”
 Every day the challenges are different What is gluten?
 Every day is a roller coaster
(Link to Jimmy Kimmel street interviews)
 Parents are trying to gain control over an
unpredictable situation
 They are SCARED and TIRED and LOVE THEIR
KIDS
 They may be grasping at straws by controlling
diet, but it may be the tiny thread keeping
them together! Be kind!

What is Gluten? Gluten Proteins

 Gluten is protein  Gliadin- monomer (helps to thicken)

 Commonly associated with wheat  A prolamin protein
 High in amino acid proline (14%) and glutamine (45%)
 “Stretchy” protein  Small amounts of arginine, lysine, and histidine
 Unique bread making properties  Other prolamin proteins:
 Catches gas bubbles produced by yeast  Hordein is the prolamin from barley
 Zein is the prolamin from corn
 Composed of two different proteins:  Glutenin-polymer (helps with elasticity)
 gliadin and glutenin  A glutelin protein

Gluten- What Foods? Is Gluten Bad for You?

 Wheat  ONLY IF have an abnormal reaction:
Celiac Disease
 Rye

 triggers an immune response that damages intestines,
 Barley preventing from absorbing vital nutrients
 Wheat Allergy
 Triticale (wheat/rye hybrid)  classic food allergy marked by skin, respiratory or
 Any grain that contain protein gastrointestinal reactions to wheat allergens.

composites made from prolamins and  Non-celiac gluten sensitivity

celiac disease symptoms (diarrhea, fatigue and joint
glutelins 
pain) without damage to intestines

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 Conclusion:
Is Gluten Bad for You? Everything in Moderation
 Gluten-free foods are often nutrient-
deficient “Everything is poison.
Only the dose makes a thing not a poison.”
 Going on a gluten free diet -Paracelsus, 1500 A.D.
 when you don’t NEED to, is bad for you!
 Going gluten-free  DOSE, DURATION, FREQUENCY
 means saying no to many common and  Sugar can kill you, if you eat enough
nutritious foods  Water can kill you, if you drink enough

Conclusion: Conclusion:
Everything in Moderation Everything in Moderation
 Everything in moderation, including  Preserved foods:
food additives  Add convenience
 Processed foods with food additives are  Spread time of abundance (harvest)
safe through the time of scarcity (winter)
 Should be PART of a balanced diet  Are safe in moderation, just like any other
 That also includes: food
Fresh fruits and vegetables
 Too much of anything is not safe!

 Whole foods
 “The dose makes the poison”
 Single ingredient foods

References
Curtis, C., Meer, R., and S. Misner. Food Safety, Preparation and Storage Tips. The University of Arizona
Cooperative Extension, Department of Nutritional Sciences. 2006.

Dormedy, Erin. Lecture material from FSC 178: Food Law and Inspection, FSC 112: Food and Dairy Chemistry,
and FSC 1: Introduction to Food Science, California State University, Fresno.
Heller, Lorraine. FDA publishes standardized ingredient definitions. 2007.
http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Suppliers2/FDA-publishes-standardized-ingredient-definitions
International Food Information Council (IFIC) and U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Food Ingredient and
Colors. November 2004. http://www.cfsan.fda.eov/-dms/foodic.html

Larson-Duyff, Roberta, MS, RD, CFCS. The American Dietetic Association's Complete Food and Nutrition
Guide, 2nd Ed. Wiley and Sons Inc. Publishing, 2002.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA's Office of Food Additive Safety. December 20021 January
2003. http://www.cfsan.fda.nov/-dms/ovaofas.html

United States Code Title 21, Chapter 9: Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, Subchapter IV – FOOD, § 348 -
Food additives. Accessible at: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2010-title21/pdf/USCODE-2010-
title21-chap9-subchapIV-sec348.pdf

Moskin, Julia. Creamy, Healthier Ice Cream? What’s the Catch?,NY Times, July 26, 2006.

Suez, Jotham, et al. Artificial sweeteners induce glucose intolerance by altering the gut microbiota. Nature.
September 17, 2014. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13793.html

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