Experts emphasize the importance of using food additives, which are used to store produced foods for longer periods, in appropriate doses, stating that excessive use of these substances will have negative health effects. Experts also indicate that food colorings can be used to restore color changes in foods, and said, "It is extremely important to use the right food additive in the right amounts."
Overdosing can lead to health problems!
Dr. Salih Tuncay, Head of the Food Technology Program at Üsküdar University Vocational School of Health Services (SHMYO), made evaluations regarding food additives.
Demand for ready-to-eat foods increased
Noting that the demand for processed foods, packaged products, and ready meals has increased today, Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay said, “Due to factors such as the desire to consume foods out of season with technological developments, their transfer over long distances for long periods, urbanization, women entering business life, intense work pace, children spending more time in schools, traveling, and living alone, people have started to show demand for processed foods, packaged products, and ready meals.”
Food additives are divided into three types
Stating that these situations necessitate storing produced foods for longer periods and the use of food additives (FA) in these stored foods, Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay said, “Food additives are mostly organic molecules obtained from nature, particularly through extraction methods from plants, and by natural means. Of course, salt forms with inorganic structures can also be used in the food sector, and food additives are divided into three classes: natural, nature-identical, and artificial.”
Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay stated that food additives are widely used in most processed and packaged food products today and appear as a large industry that has taken its place in the food sector and will continue to be used in the future.
Colorants must be used in permitted doses
Salih Tuncay stated that fruits and vegetables picked from their branches, meat and meat products offered for consumption after slaughter, and milk and fermented milk products consumed after milking structurally deteriorate through physical, chemical, enzymatic, and/or microbiological means due to their environment, and noted that food colorings can be used to restore color changes in foods.
Processes must be followed with sensitivity
Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay said, “In the structure of these products, texture properties such as color, smell, and taste deteriorate, leading to losses in nutritional value. Color additive food additives to be used to restore color changes or to ensure the production of foods in more attractive colors should not mislead the consumer, and it is an extremely important issue that substances determined by authorities and permitted for use in foods are used in their allowed doses. Another important issue is the meticulous monitoring of these processes and the timely and accurate execution of controls.”
Conditions necessitate the use of food additives
Noting that food additives are used in the food industry due to reasons such as the necessity of production at certain times, technological requirements, consumer desires and the desire for consumption at any moment, and extending the shelf life of perishable foods, Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay said, “These situations necessitate the use of food additives. Especially in food products with high water content, microorganisms rapidly proliferate within the food, and oxidative degradation, i.e., degradation by atmospheric oxygen, of fatty products rich in double bonds occurs rapidly.”
Foods are restored to their natural colors
Salih Tuncay pointed out that there are losses, especially in color values, after preliminary processes such as grinding, peeling, shredding, and blanching applied to foods, and said, “Lipochromes such as chlorophyll, carotene, and anthocyanins are used as food additives to restore color changes lost during prolonged enzymatic maturation, oxidation, microbial activity, and preliminary processes. With these food additives, the characteristic colors of foods are restored. In this way, color losses are regained, market share is increased, and customers' consumption preferences can be managed.”
Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay stated that this application is much more commonly found in processed and packaged foods derived from fruit and vegetable products where color losses occur very rapidly. Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay said, “Especially in foods, natural food additives such as anthocyanin, chlorophyll, carotene, retinol, and saffron are widely used as coloring food additives. Such applications can be seen in the production of processed and packaged foods, with green colors from chlorophyll, yellow colors from saffron, and ready-to-eat foods in the purple and red color spectrum from anthocyanins.”
It is important to use them in appropriate doses
Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay stated that these types of additives should be used in appropriate doses, and said, “Paracelsus states, ‘Every substance is a poison. The only thing that differentiates poison from non-poison is the dose.’ From this perspective, it is well known to everyone that excessive use of these substances will have negative health effects. There are important points to consider here. The most important of these is the dose-response relationship. That is, ‘using the right food additive in the right amounts’ is of utmost importance.”
Daily intake dose should be determined
Food Technology Specialist Salih Tuncay concluded his words as follows: “For a food additive to be used in foods, the NOAEL (No Observed Adverse Effect Level) value, where no adverse effect is observed as a result of all tests conducted by JECFA (Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives), formed by WHO (World Health Organization) and FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization), must be known, and based on this value, the acceptable daily intake (ADI) value must be determined.
Overdoses can lead to health problems
Substances for which an ADI value has been determined must have no teratogenic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, or allergenic side effects. As a result of these tests, each food substance must be included in the GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) lists by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Only in this way are permissions granted for the use of these substances in foods. However, using these substances above the ADI values, which authorities can determine through very long-term studies, and the common use of the same food additive in many different foods will lead to overdoses, and this overdose can cause health problems depending on individuals' varying immunity levels based on their illness, gender, genetic characteristics.”