The use of additives in foods remains both widespread and, for some consumers, controversial. Additives are used for a wide range of purposes, particularly in improving the quality of food products. Whilst valuing products with the right taste, colour and texture and shelf-life, consumers have expressed reservations about the safety of the additives used to enhance these qualities. These concerns have increased the pressure on the food industry to demonstrate the safe use of additives in food. With its distinguished international team of contributors, this collection reviews both the regulatory context and the methods used to analyse, assess and control the use of additives in food processing. The first part of the book examines regulation in the EU and the US. This provides the context for Part 2 which discusses analytical issues. There are chapters on the use of risk analysis in assessing the impact of additives on consumer health, quality control of analytical methods, and new more rapid and targeted methods in detecting and measuring additives in foods. There is also an important review of adverse reactions to additives covering such issues as monitoring, trends in reporting and the evidence concerning major additives. The final part of the book looks at the key groups of additives, from colorants and flavourings to texturing agents and antioxidant preservatives.

Table of Contents

Part 1 General issues: Regulation of additives in the EU; Regulation of additives in the USA. Part 2 Analysing additives: Risk analysis of food additives; Analytical methods: Quality control and selection; New methods in detecting food additives; Adverse reactions to food additives. Part 3 Specific additives: Colorants; Safety assessment of flavor ingredients; Sweeteners; Food additives, other than colours and sweeteners; Case study: antioxidant preservatives.

Author Biography

Dr David Watson is formerly Head of Branch 4 of the Chemical Safety and Toxicology Division in the UK Food Standards Agency. He has written widely in such areas as natural toxicants and organic environmental contaminants. Dr Watson is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institute of Biology.