Food labels

The Food Standards Agency is concerned not only with the food we eat but with what it is sold in and how that is labeled.
The Agency is responsible for making sure that the rules on the safety of materials that come into contact with food are enforced. Food contact materials include the containers food is sold in, the packaging, as well as the articles used to handle food, from food processing machinery to cutlery.
Food labels are a useful source of information, primarily to inform and protect consumers. Much of the Agency's current work on labelling is to help make sure that people get the information they need in an understandable form.

Food additives

Food additives are substances which are added in small amounts to processed foods to preserve flavour, improve Food additives have been used for many years for preserving food, e.g. 1) Pickling food e.g. vinegar  2) Salting food e.g. bacon In the past 50 years, however, with the introduction of processed foods, there has been a massive explosion in the chemical adulteration of foods with additives. Considerable controversy has been associated with the potential threats and possible benefits of food additives. In several cases, artificial food additives have been linked with cancer, digestive problems, and neurological conditions such as ADD. They can be also linked with diseases like heart disease, obesity, rapid heartbeat and more. Though some people feel organic additives are preferable to artificial ones, others point out that "natural" additives themselves may be harmful in large quantities (e.g. salt) or may contain natural toxins, such as chemicals made by plants to defend themselves.

Food additives can be divided into several groups although there is some overlap between them.

• Acids - Food acids are added to make flavors "sharper", and also act as preservatives and antioxidants. Common food acids include vinegar, citric acid, tartaric acid, malic acid, fumaric acid, lactic acid.
• Acidity regulators - Acidity regulators are used to change or otherwise control the acidity and alkalinity of foods.
• Anticaking agents - Anticaking agents keep powders such as milk powder from caking or sticking.
• Antifoaming agents - Antifoaming agents reduce or prevent foaming in foods.
• Antioxidants - Antioxidants such as vitamin C act as preservatives by inhibiting the effects of oxygen on food, and can be beneficial to health.
• Bulking agents - Bulking agents such as starch are additives that increase the bulk of a food without affecting its nutritional value.
• Food colouring - Colourings are added to food to replace colours lost during preparation, or to make food look more attractive.
• Colour retention agents  - In contrast to colourings, colour retention agents are used to preserve a food's existing colour.
• Emulsifiers - Emulsifiers allow water and oils to remain mixed together in an emulsion, as in mayonnaise, ice cream, and homogenized milk.
• Flavours - Flavours are additives that give food a particular taste or smell, and may be derived from natural ingredients or created artificially.
• Flavour enhancers - Flavour enhancers enhance a food's existing flavours. They may be extracted from natural sources (through distillation, solvent extraction, maceration, among other methods) or created artificially.
• Flour treatment agents - Flour treatment agents are added to flour to improve its color or its use in baking.
• Humectants - Humectants prevent foods from drying out.
• Tracer gas - Tracer gases allow for package integrity testing to prevent foods from being exposed to atmosphere, thus guaranteeing shelf life.
• Preservatives - Preservatives prevent or inhibit spoilage of food due to fungi, bacteria and other microorganisms.
• Stabilizers  - Stabilizers, thickeners and gelling agents, like agar or pectin (used in jam for example) give foods a firmer texture. While they are not true emulsifiers, they help to stabilize emulsions.
• Sweeteners - Sweeteners are added to foods for flavoring. Sweeteners other than sugar are added to keep the food energy (calories) low, or because they have beneficial effects for diabetes mellitus and tooth decay and diarrhea.
• Thickeners - Thickeners are substances which, when added to the mixture, increase its viscosity without substantially modifying its other properties.