La importancia de los aditivos alimentarios en los alimentos industrializados

Abstract

The additives are those substances or non-nutritive compounds which are added directly to the whole industrialized foodstuff during its preparation, with the purpose of providing stability to physicochemical food properties, improved sensory characteristics and in many cases, extending the food shelf life. The widespread use of additives by food industry, forces to establish control mechanisms that ensures their proper use and thatverify their results in terms of providing an added value for the consumer. To make a substance admitted as an additive, it should be correctly characterized in chemical terms and it should exceed toxicological controls established by the relevant national and international organizations in order to check their safety in terms of the frequency of consumption and the maximum allowable dietary level, avoiding the generation of any adverse health effect.

The use of food additives is justified when they fulfill any of the following functions: a) Maintenance of the nutritious qualities or attributes beneficial to health; b)Improvement of the keeping qualities or physicochemical stability of food, c) Increasing or improvement of the sensory characteristics (attractive to the consumer) so that does not bear to deception, d) Supply of essential adjuvant for processing.

In this regard, nowadays the additives must be substances that contribute to the physicochemical stability of food to lengthen shelf life and make it more palatable to the consumer, to hide defects in workmanship and in extreme cases insanitary elaboration the conditions.