Читать книгу Food Chemistry. The Role of Additives, Preservatives and Adulteration онлайн

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With time, the lifestyles of people are changing, and nowadays, most people depend on factory made food also known as processed food rather than using homemade food, for example, people prefer packed dairy products like paneer instead of making at home on their own. So, machine made food should have appropriate taste, appearance, texture, and its safety. Processed food should remain safe for longer time after it has been made.

The important functions of food additives are as follows:

 • to prevent food from spoiling, for example, adding preservatives to food;

 • to give texture and consistency, for example, gelling and emulsifiers;

 • to improve flavors, taste, for example, adding flavoring agents to food;

 • to enhance the nutritional values, for example, sweeteners;

 • to make food attractive and appealing;

 • to garnish food;

 • to expand affordability and convenience;

 • to maintain the freshness of food.

Synthetic colorants are the colorants which are not found in nature due to their chemical structure and obtained by chemical synthesis. In 1856, William Henry Perkin discovered the first synthetic organic color which is purplish lilac color obtained from coaltar. Synthetic food colorants have their high coloring ability, various color tone, homogeneous color distribution, brightness, stability, and ease of application [19, 26].