Abstract

Additives are a group of organic and inorganic compounds that are not raw materials and are used in the production of food in order for the products to be of better quality or longer lasting, to protect the taste, or to improve the taste or appearance. Some of the additives have been used for centuries, for example by salting meat or using CO2 in wine. The main groups of food additives are antioxidants, colors, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, emulsifiers and stabilizers and preservatives. The FAO has also given a definition of additives, according to which additives are substances that are intentionally added to products, usually in small quantities, have no nutritional value, and the purpose of their addition is to improve the appearance, smell, taste, consistency or durability of the product. Some of the additives that are not approved by the European Commission are approved and used in Australia and New Zealand. Given all of the above, it is easy to conclude that aspects of food safety will be the number one topic in this century. The practical outcome of this review is presented as a set of recommendations for future research in this area. The use of the data in this review is proposed as a training set to develop the framework into a diagnostic tool.

Keywords: Additives; Interaction; Food safety; Combination