NATURAL FOOD ADDITIVES

NATURAL FOOD ADDITIVE?

• Substances found naturally in animals and plants extracted for use in food.
• Eg./ Beetroot juice: used as colouring for sweets, drinks and yoghurt.

USES OF NFA

• Food Colouring
• Food Preservatives
• Flavouring
• Emulsifiers
• Thickening Agents

FOOD COLOURING

• From veggies, animals or minerals
• For FOOD, DRUGS & COSMETICS
• To make products look more appealing, and appetising
• Eg./ Caramelised sugar-Cola

PRESERVATIVES

• PREVENT & SLOW DOWN spoilage of food
• Eg./ Vinegar-pickles and fruits
• Eg./ Sugar & Salt -Drops the growth of bacteria

FLAVOURING

• Derived from plant material in food labs
• Adds or improves the flavour of a product
• Eg./ Honey-sweetener

EMULSIFIERS

• A molecule with a hydrophilic tail and hydrophobic head
• Mixes to liquid substances that are immiscible
• Eg./ Eggs-for mayonnaise

THICKENING aGENTS

• Mainly natural gums
• Polysaccharides capable of increasing a solution's viscosity
• Eg./ Agar-jellies, puddings, custards

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS/EXTRA INFO

• Carmine: Obtained from a species of female insect. -used as red food dye
• Shellac: secretions of Kerria Lacca insects. -used for coating jellybeans

NATURAL VS ARTIFICIAL

• Advocates for synthetics claim that they both are the same since the chemical constituents are simply the same.
• Naturalists claim that artificial additives have harmful side effects
• Researchers and claim that additives as a whole can be harmful in large amounts and thus additives should be minimised or avoided

Chemistry Presentation
by

Ho Wei Hoong,
Ethan Kong,
Teo Chong Guan,
Brian Eu
and Ong Wil Sern