Food Additives and Preservatives Key Terms

Enhance your vocabulary with food additives and preservatives terminology

By Lisa Wilsbacher

The businesses of food manufacturing and processing are large and competitive industries. These business must find ways to make their product attractive to the consumer, while protecting the integrity of the product until it finds its way to the table. The products used include substances that enhance the look, texture, and flavor of the food as well as materials that preserve the food by fighting the decomposing effects of oxygen and microbes.

Food colorings

These additives include anything that imparts a color to a food. These can also be used in drugs and cosmetics and can be man-made or natural substances. They can be used both to enhance a food's natural color or alter the food to give it a completely new color.
Try: The United States Food and Drug Administration offers a full explanation of food color additives, including dyes.

Emulsifiers and stabilizers

Emulsifiers and stabilizers are additives that affect the texture of a food. They work together to give foods a smooth texture and help to blend food ingredients, such as oil and water, that have a natural tendency to separate. Mono- and triglycerides are common emulsifiers, and gelatin is a common stabilizer.
Try: Rung International presents information on a wide range of food additives, including emulsifiers and stabilizers.

Flavorings and taste enhancers

Flavorings and taste enhancers both work to alter the taste of foods. Flavorings impart their own taste to foods, while taste enhancers work to enhance the food's natural flavors without imparting a noticeable flavor of their own.
Try: Scientific American discusses possible uses of taste enhancers to improve health, while Food Product Design shares information on possible negative heath effects of flavor enhancers such as monosodium glutamate (MSG).

Antioxidant preservatives

Antioxidant preservatives prevent the decomposition of food through oxidation. This oxidation is what often turns proteins and oils rancid and brown. Antioxidant preservatives can be man-made, such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and sulfites, or naturally-derived, such as acetic and lactic acids.
Try: Healthcastle Nutrition discusses natural sources of antioxidants, while the Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition shares information on manufactured antioxidants, such as BHT and sulfites.

Antimicrobial preservatives

Antimicrobial preservatives work to slow or prevent decomposition of the food by fighting microscopic organisms such as bacteria, mold, and fungus. These effects can be achieved through natural ingredients, such as some spices and natural food acids, as well as chemical means.
Try: New York State Food Venture Center at Cornell University discusses the mechanism behind the chemical antimicrobial agents of sodium benzoate, benzoic acid and sorbates as antimicrobial agents. Scientific Blogging discusses new innovations in using natural ingredients for antimicrobial preservatives.

Nutrient additives

The addition of nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals, to food is often called enrichment or fortification. This is sometimes used to give foods an extra boost of nutrition or to replace the nutrients lost in the manufacturing or handling process.
Try: The Food and Nutrition Bulletin of United Nations University discusses the history and current uses of food fortification.