Additives

1. The 6 main types of additives are Nutritional supplements, Preservatives, flavouring agents, colouring agents, Emulsifiers/ stabilisers/thickeners and Acids/Alkalis. 2. Nutritional supplements are things we add to the food to replace whatever was lost in the process of making it, e.g. Vitamin D in milk. Preservatives are things we use to protect certain foods from going off or to keep oils from going rancid, e.g. Benzoic acid on pickles. Flavouring agents/flavour enhancers are things we add to foods to enhance their flavour, we use it if the natural flavour is unavailable or too expensive, or for commercial reasons (to make it taste better) and example it monosodium glutamate which is added for a nicer flavour, often added to Chinese food. Food colouring/flavouring agents are used to create a more appealing look or to make it look more realistic, e.g. some oranges have colouring added to their skin to make it more to the customers expectations. Stabilisers/thickeners are used to give the food a nicer texture and Emulsifiers are used to keep liquids from parting, e.g. egg in mayonnaise. And the last ones are acids and alkalis which are used to stabilise the acidity/alkali levels in a certain food, or to add a tang to a food e.g. citric acid. 3. Chromatography is a process which is used to separate and/or analyse a complex mixture. It is done by putting a mixture of components through a chromatography process at different rates over an absorbent material to make them separate. The Rf value is a way of working out how far the solvent front travelled, here is the formula to work it out.

4. E-numbers are codes used for food additives in the European union ( E stands for Europe) 5. There are some additives which can cause health problems e.g. Artificial colours can lead to cancer, hydrogenated oils can lead to heart disease and Aspartame can lead to seizures/mood swings.