A dizzying array of chemical compounds is used in modern food. Artificially manufactured dyes, preservatives, flavors, texture enhancers, and fats enhance the way food looks, tastes, and feels. Considerable debate has raged over the long-term safety of chemical food additives, which are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. The FDA allows the addition of non-...

In recent years there has been an increasing focus from the consumers on food quality i.e. unwanted substances such as bacteria, pesticides, drug residues and additives as well as on food composition including nutritional value, healthy additives, antioxidants and the contents of selected fatty acids. This is also reflected in an increasing interest for organic food products. It therefore seems...

Introduction The utilisation of food additives becomes more and more important. The red seaweed hydrocolloids agar-agar, carrageenan and furcelleran which are the cell wall polysaccharides and construct differently with a variable amount linked groups are used as a food additive. Red algae belong to the class Rhodophyceae. Agar-agar or short agar, carrageenan and furcelleran are part of the emu...

Antimicrobial additives have been used successfully for many years as direct food additives. The literature provides evidence that some of these additives may be effective as indirect food additives incorporated into food packaging materials. Antimicrobial food packaging is directed toward the reduction of surface contamination of processed, prepared foods such as sliced meats and Frankfurter s...

Obesity leads to the activation of pro-inflammatory pathways, resulting in a state of low-grade inflammation. Recently, several studies have shown that the exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) could initiate and maintain a chronic state of low-grade inflammation in obese people. As the daily intake of food additives has increased substantially, the aim of the present study was to investigate a ...

Consumers have recently become more concerned about food additives and food safety. Since its first meeting on September 17, 2003, the Risk Communication Expert Committee has studied and discussed the ideal methods to communicate risk related to food safety issues in response to a Food Safety Commission request. However, there are only a few case studies that actually apply to risk communicatio...

The main directions in food packaging research are targeted toward improvements in food quality and food safety. For this purpose, food packaging providing longer product shelf-life, as well as the monitoring of safety and quality based upon international standards, is desirable. New active packaging strategies represent a key area of development in new multifunctional materials where the use o...

The potential role in carcinogenesis of food additives and contaminants presents a complex problem in terms of assessing the risk to the general public. Long-term testing in laboratory animals is still the most feasible method for determining potential carcinogenicity of various chemicals. The disadvantages encountered in the present methods of animal testing are discussed and a review is made ...

2. The additives reviewed by the COT have previously been evaluated by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and the Scientific Committee on Food (SCF). However, a number of the evaluations, particularly those for the colours, were conducted more than 20 years ago. It is appropriate therefore to consider whether the potential for neurotoxicity and developmental effects wa...

A refined exposure assessment was undertaken to calculate the estimated daily intake (EDI) of the seven FD&C straight-colour additives and five FD&C colour lakes ('synthetic' food colours) approved in the United States. The EDIs were calculated for the US population as a whole and specific age groups, including children aged 2-5 and 6-12 years, adolescents aged 13-18 years, and adults aged 19 o...