Food additives

Despite prevailing conceptions the use of food additives is not a recent practice associated only with the increasing use of 'convenience' foods. Consumers have had to contend with adulterated food from time immemorial. Our ancestors ate foods contaminated by bacteria and moulds, as well as poisonous plants. They learned by trial and error which foods to avoid. Even the most basic cooking method of throwing food onto hot coals meant consuming charcoal, minerals and carcinogens. Later, with more refined cooking methods, spices were added for flavour and colour and other substances were added as preservatives. Since the birth of modern chemistry in the nineteenth century additional substances enhancing colour, flavour or preservation were enthusiastically added, often with scant testing. The awareness that salts of lead, copper and alum and preservatives such as boric acid and formaldehyde were dangerous led to the establishment of preventative food regulations. In 1905, Victoria enacted its Pure Food Act and the other states followed quickly. Australia's approach to food laws has differed from those adopted in the USA and in the UK. In those countries manufacturers could add any chemical except those that were specifically forbidden for use anywhere within the food industry, whereas in Australia regulations governed those which could be used in a particular type of food, and all others were excluded; moreover, it was required that the additives serve a 'useful purpose'. Many have argued that 'useful purpose' has beFn interpreted too widely, particularly in relation to food colourings and flavourings. There is an additional problem of variation occurring between states in respect of allowable additives. The term food additives covers a wide range of chemicals, such as anticaking agents (e.g. calcium silicate), antioxidants (e.g. Vitamin C and Vitamin E); artificial sweetening agents (e.g. cyclamates); bleaching agents (e.g. benzoyl peroxide); colourings (naturally occurring chlorophyll or carotene, or artificial azo dye derivatives); emulsifiers, flavourings, food acids, humectants (e.g. sorbitol); mineral salts; preservatives (e.g. benzoates, nitrates, sulphites); thickeners and vegetable gums.' More than 5000 additives are used in the USA and although the list is more restrictive in Australia, more than 2000 flavourings alone are allowed. The National Health 8, Medical Research Council in Australia and the Food and Drug Administration in the USA evaluate research into side effects and toxicology and make recommendations regarding the various additives. Considerable attention has been focused on food additives since Feingold proposed a relationship between hyperactivity and artificial colourings, flavourings, certain preservatives and naturally occurring ~ a l i c y l a t e s . ~ ~ ~ This proposition received widespread coverage in the popular press despite the lack of substantiating clinical trials.