Food additives, categories acids

The demand for healthy foods has led to the development of several entirely new healthy ingredient and additive categories (Heasman and Mellentin 2001 Sloan 2004). An entirely new sector of functional food ingredients has developed, including products such as omega-3 fatty acids and phytosterols for cardiovascular health, prebiotics and probiotics for gut health, antioxidants, polyphenols and phytochemicals, and bioactive peptides. The established vitamins and minerals sector has also benefited from this functional food trend, with more and more products being fortified with beneficial vitamins and minerals. 

Shellac, a resin, is the most representative material in the naturally occurring polyesters category. It is a mixture of monoesters and polyesters (secreted by female lac bug), with a backbone mainly consisting of aleuritic acid, terpenic acids, and minor fatty acids (Wang, 1999). This resin is used as a food additive and also as a pharmaceutical glaze. It also serves as coating material for tablets and capsules, particularly in time-released or delayed-action pills, because it stops the piU from breaking down in the stomach. 

Antioxidants should be labelled on the retail package with the specific chemical name or with the EC number. The legislation of member states of the EU is influenced by the decision taken within the EC. Some food standards are fully based on EC Directives and some are still based on national considerations. There may be differences between European states, for instance, the utilisation of ascorbic acid as antioxidant for egg products is permitted in France but prohibited in Germany. These differences concern usually the utilisation of antioxidants in various food commodities. The specification of antioxidants mentioned in EC Directives are respected by all member states. But it is still generally required that individual countries of the European Union as well as the central organisation should be approached. The requirements appearing in the EC Directives on additives must be applied by the member states. This means in the first place that for those categories of additives for which a Community positive list exists, member states may not authorise any additives which do not appear on the positive list. 

Polydextrose is a reduced-calorie fat replacer, supplying 1 kcal/g of food. It is often used in conjunction with fat replacers to provide additional bulk and viscosity with reduced calories. Polydextrose contains minor amounts of sorbitol and citric acid. This product was approved by the FDA in 1981 for use in products in several food categories (21 CFR 172.841). Use of polydextrose in some of the products in these categories results in substantial reductions in fat. Polydextrose is currently used in baked foods, chewing gums, gelatins, puddings, and frozen dairy desserts. 

In food science, HPLC has been applied to several categories of substances carbohydrates, lipids, vitamins, additives, synthetic colourings, natural pigments, contaminants (degradation products, pesticides, or natiu-ally occurring substances), as well as amino acids and others [1]. Due to space limitations in this text, all of these classes wdl not be covered, but a limited number of specific examples will be presented. Other applications can be found in recently published books and journals. 

Specific methods have been established for quite a large number of compounds or analytic problems. Among these are amino acids, sugars in food, common organic adds in food, vitamins, and additives (e.g., antioxidants) in polymers. Column manufacturers may have an applications database from which they can recommend a column and a method. However, it is recommended to rely on literature methods only, if the methods are well established and have been proved out in many laboratories. EPA methods or pharmacopoeia methods fall into this category, but a single reference on a method for an uncommon analyte should be viewed with caution. It is not unconunon that such a method does not work or does not work well when duplicated. In such a case, we are actually better off to develop a new method ourselves. 

European Union Register of Feed Additives describes that acetic acid (E260) and its calcium (E263) and sodium salts (sodium diacetate E262) are preservatives for use in all animal species and categories without a time limit and without maximum levels. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has issued an opinion on the safety of calcium acetate added for nutritional purposes to food supplements (EFSA, 2009). 

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