This article introduces the facts about food additives and explains the argument for the Chinese food additive to help you better understand Chinese and world food additive application conditions.
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What is Food Additive?
There is a saying that food additive is the spirit of the food industry for the insiders while the common people’s nerve is jangled by the negative statement about food additive. Especially a saying that there seems abuse of food additives in the Chinese food industry, which creates tension among Chinese people and also foreign prejudice to Chinese food additives.
What is the food additive and what is the true condition of Chinese food additive on earth? Let’s find the answer together!
Food additives are synthetic or natural substances added to food to enhance quality, appearance, and taste, preserve freshness, and facilitate the processing of food. They include nutritional fortifiers, flavor enhancers, base materials in confectionery, and processing aids for the food industry.
Is it necessary to use additives in food?
To discuss the necessity of the food additive is actually to discuss its functions and importance. Food additive is developed together with the food industry, showcasing their functions in 2 major aspects: to satisfy the demand for food processing technology and the demand for taste and nutrition.
There are the major purposes of using the food additive:
1. Preserving food and preventing spoilage;
2. Improving food quality and stability;
3. Improving sensory characteristics like color, smell, taste, and shape;
4. Maintaining or boosting nutritional value;
5. Taking as the necessary ingredients of certain special foods, such as potassium bicarbonate, the acidity regulator is used in infant formula foods.
6. Expanding food varieties and bringing convenience to life;
7. In favor of food processing and accommodating to the mechanized and automated production;
8. Catering to specific requirements, for example, the diabetic is not allowed to eat sugar, so Nutrient-free or low-caloric sweetening agents like sucralose and aspartame are good alternatives.
The above introduction might be too theoretical for you to understand, I will give some examples, therefore you will understand if the food additive is necessary or not.
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In ancient times, there were no preservatives so people could only buy the food nearby. Only pickled, smoked, dry, or fermented food could be transported over long distances or preserved for a long time. However, the presence of preservatives changed the condition, those perishable foods could take long journeys, and people can enjoy the various flavors from all over the world at home.
Besides, sweetening agent for the diabetic is another great example. Sucralose, aspartame, and other sweetening agents satisfy these patient’s demand for sugar but would not supply too much energy which is fatal for the diabetic.
Now you should have the answer to this question. Without food additives, humans will not lose a life, just like in ancient times. However, today under the great industrialization, food additive exerts significant influences on our life.
Why is there an argument about Chinese food additives?
A saying that there is abuse of Chinese food additives because many food additives are prohibited in developed countries but are still in use in China, which brings tension among Chinese people and also causes prejudice internationally.
Actually, there are about food additives allowed to be used in China, and about in America. Other countries like Japan also allow more food additives in use. Each additive must be evaluated and tested strictly and systematically before being applied in actual use, which is the same in every country.
There are different additive species and quantity standards in different countries’ food industries. Some food additives in China even have stricter limits compared to international organizations or developed countries.
For instance, the limit for Potassium Sorbate (a preservative) in Chinese jelly is 0.5 grams per kilogram, while the EU allows 1 gram per kilogram. Conversely, some additives are permitted by international standards or developed nations but not approved in China. For example, Peroxybenzoic Acid (flour bleaching agent) is acceptable internationally and in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, but China has banned its use. These variations highlight the diverse regulations governing food additives worldwide.
Therefore, we can judge a country’s food additive simply by a few specific indexes is low or high, or if a country uses a certain additive or not. That’s not scientific and objective.
Some people feel upset as there are arguments like “there is exceeding xxx found in xxx food, which will cause serious result if used for long term”, hence, hate additives and hate them completely. That’s less rational.
As mentioned above, food additives undergo safety evaluations considering lifetime, daily, and extensive intake. Thus, additives used within standard limits don't pose risks from "long-term extensive" usage. Additives typically remains far from causing health hazards, as we don't consume excessive amounts of these substances daily throughout our lives.
Conclusion:
China has established a solid but rather complex regulatory system for food additives. This system might prove difficult to navigate for EU food producers. Many have reached out to the EU SME Centre with detailed questions on the permitted usage and scope of food additives. For this reason, we are publishing guidelines to clarify these issues and to provide practical guidance to European SMEs.
Specifically, these guidelines cover the principles for the application of food additives in mainland China, as regulated by GB - National Food Safety Standard for Uses of Food Additives and its appendixes:
Please note that these guidelines are about the current version of GB - in force. However, this standard is currently under revision. Chapter 5 introduces the expected changes based on the preliminary drafts of the revised standard issued in and . In particular, we look into the application of nutrition fortification substances and the structural changes applied to the tables included in the standard’s appendixes.
The last chapter provides a list of frequently asked questions that the EU SME Centre has received in the past year from European SMEs. These mostly involve the applicability of GACC’s Decree 248 to producers of food additives or natural ingredients exported to China. This chapter also introduces useful tools for EU SMEs to easily identify permitted food additives and relevant food safety standards. For more information on Decree 248, you can download our guidelines on how to complete the mandatory GACC registration.
Note: the screenshots displaying tables and examples are mostly from unofficial English translations of Chinese standards by the Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). You can access the full translations from the relevant links in the footnotes.
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