The more varieties of additives in food, the less safe?

Someone asked me: I see a strange phenomenon in the ingredient list of many foods.

There are three or four thickeners, two or three emulsifiers, and two or three pigments…why add so many?

Is it true that the more varieties and the greater the total amount of additives, the less safe it is?

I say, not necessarily.

Sometimes, after more varieties, the total may be more.

For example, when I was a child, I ate some candies, layer by layer, with different colors, and the color was very strong. After eating, the tongue was dyed in color.

It is conceivable that the amount of pigments added to such products is relatively large in terms of unit food. However, because of the addition of many kinds of pigments, none of them exceeds the standard…

Sometimes, it is necessary to use different pigments to adjust the color, just like when we paint, we need to use a variety of pigments to match.

Food synthetic pigments are blue, yellow, and red, but not green (unless sodium copper chlorophyll is added directly), purple, etc. Blue plus yellow makes green, blue plus red makes purple. So Some colored foods require at least two pigments to bring out the corresponding color.

Sometimes the opposite is true.

For example, thickeners and gelling agents, and quality improvers.

The reason for the development of “compounded” additives is to achieve three goals: improve the effect, reduce the dosage, and reduce the cost.

Food developers have discovered that some ingredients, in the right proportions, can have a “one plus one is more than two” effect.

For example, researchers have found that locust bean gum and carrageenan are a “good match”, forming a soft gum in the right proportions Freezing can also help ice cream have a delicate and smooth taste, and the dosage is only 0.1%~0.2% of each. If you use a single glue, the effect is not so good, and the amount is more.

Sometimes, compound additives can integrate multiple functions, making it more convenient for food makers to use.

For example, the earliest meat tenderizers only had starch and protease, which could cut off part of the long chain of protein, thereby making the meat tender; later added starch and protease. >Phosphate (or edible alkali) improves the water retention of the meat and can also have a tenderizing effect; The color becomes pink and lovely; you may also add monsodium glutamate chicken essence to make the meat taste more delicious; finally add meat essence to make the aroma of cooked meat invincible. … ..

Thus, the chef’s job becomes easier. It used to be the same, adding sodium nitrite, adding alkali, adding monosodium glutamate chicken essence, starch sizing, and now it is done at one time, and the meat becomes more tender, making it color, flavor and taste that you cannot make at home.

Maybe some friends have rounded eyes: why add alkali to me! Why add sodium nitrite, isn’t that toxic? How can it be allowed to add!

However, when making cooked meat products, if you want to have a sufficient shelf life, adding sodium nitrite will be very helpful, and it can prevent botulinum toxin poisoning. If you ask chefs to add them, they don’t have much on hand, and it’s easy to add too much; and the worst thing is, because of poor management, there are often chefs who mix up sodium nitrite with salt and “misuse” and cause poisoning accidents… …

(If you are interested, you can check it out. This kind of tragedy was often staged more than ten years ago, but now it is much less.)

If you put sodium nitrite in a compound meat quality improver, things will work out. As long as the chefs use it as required, all kinds of additives will not exceed the standard, and there will be no tragedy of nitrite poisoning. So now many cities have banned the direct use of nitrite in restaurants, and its effect can only be obtained by compounding food additives.

(So, for some things, it can’t be too extreme. From a management perspective, a small, controllable risk, such as the rational use of food additives, is exchanged for a large safety, such as avoiding botulinum toxin poisoning and sodium nitrite poisoning, is still cost-effective.)

In short, seeing many food additives in the ingredient list does not mean that the total amount of additives is larger, nor does it mean that they are less safe.

You might say: I don’t need those additives at all! I don’t want the effects of softening, water retention, freshness, and hair color! I’m going to eat a simple meat flavor, okay?

However, that doesn’t really make the taste of many dishes in restaurants…why do you want to go to restaurants, why do you want to eat takeaway, isn’t it because of the color and aroma of the dishes Is the shape more attractive than what you make yourself? These effects do not come out of thin air, and food additives play a major role in them.

Without Meat Flavor, there is a strong aroma of Mala Xiang Guo, Mala Tang, most cooked meat and sausage products, and barbecue-flavored snacks.